


Fire and Ice

by corotid



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-10-06 23:56:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17355074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corotid/pseuds/corotid
Summary: Adrianna Rivera has just made a difficult move from Arizona to the southside of Riverdale. With the history of her life in Phoenix behind her will she be able to find a new family in the Southside Serpents? Or will a certain tall, dark, and rage inducing Serpent cause issues?





	1. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first crack at Riverdale so all comments are welcome :)
> 
> Also obligatory I own nothing statement here.

It had been 36 hours since what she had not so affectionately dubbed her “fall from grace”. Adrianna Rivera sighed as she stared out of the Greyhound window. One more mile until the exit to Riverdale, her new home for the foreseeable future.

The last day and a half had been particularly jarring. One minute she was sipping orange juice on her back porch the next an entire swat team burst through the door, dragging out her father in cuffs. The next few hours were a whirlwind of FBI questioning as well as her father’s legal team dictating all the words that shouldn’t come out of her mouth. But now it was over, and her father remained in a high security prison. No bail presented as he had been deemed a flight risk.

That’s where Riverdale came in. It was a long shot from Phoenix which she had called home for her entire 16 years of life, but it was her aunt lived. Vanessa Allen, her mother’s sister. The last time she had seen her Aunt Ness she was a 6 year old child. Hanging onto her father’s leg at her mother’s funeral, not understanding the gravity of the situation. Over time she realized her mother was never coming back, and neither was her mother’s only sister.

With her father gone she had no one else to take care of her. The state dictated that her father’s family had too much of a history with crime, so much to her surprise Ness had agreed to take her in. Thousands of miles away on the east coast in a small town she never left. Adria knew next to nothing about her aunt, or her home. All she knew was depending on her father’s lawyers she could be stuck here until she turned 18. The thought made her skin crawl.

The bus pulled in to the station and things already weren’t looking good. There was multiple graffiti tags littering the walls, and at least 2 people begging for spare change. Adria plucked her luggage from the driver’s hands with a small muttering of thanks and scoped out the scene. Soon she saw the woman from the photo her case worker had provided her. She was short, with long wavy brown hair and a smattering of freckles across her face. She couldn’t have been older than 35.

“Adrianna, hey!” she called out, waving her hand to make sure she had her attention “I’m your aunt Ness. God, last time I saw you, you had pig tails” she laughed a bit to herself. “Let me grab your bag.”

She picked up the suitcase as Adria gave her a small smile. She wanted to shower already, the long bus ride along with the bus station made her feel like her skin was covered in grime. Ness led her to a beat up Lincoln that looked like it was at least 20 years old.

“So…this is your car?” She asked, disdain obvious in her voice

Ness let out a sour chuckle “Yep, she’s mine. Not as flashy as your dad’s Mercedes if he still has it.” Ness could already tell this would be a rough transition. Her niece wasn’t the pleasant little girl she remembered. Not to say that wasn’t entirely expected. Her mother had died while she was young, and her father was never the best example. ‘Rude bastard.’ Ness thought to herself.

The car ride was silent on the way back. They pulled up to a small ranch style home nearby a trailer park. It looked like it hadn’t been washed in a couple years. Ness unloaded her niece’s bag out of the car and brought it into the door. Inside there was a small kitchen table covered in mail and some Chinese takeout boxes. The kitchen looked clean, but in a way that meals most likely hadn’t been cooked in months.

“Your room is at the end of the hall,” Ness set down her bag, “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll clean up the table and order us a pizza. You a pepperoni girl?”

“Yeah…that’s fine.” Adria was still in shock. She looked down the hall and noticed the open door at the end of the hall. She picked up her bag and threw it by the inside of the door. The room wasn’t even a quarter of the size of her old room. No en suite bathroom. No walk in closet. Just a twin sized bed, a small full sized mirror propped against a wall, a beat up dresser, and a closet that could maybe fit a half of her already diminished belongings.

She unpacked everything she could, trying to be as creative as possible. Ultimately, she was exhausted. She left half of her belongings in her suitcase and walked out as soon as she heard the delivery boy. She devoured a few slices of pizza before Ness spoke again

“I know you’ve had a long day but there’s somewhere I need to take you before you start school tomorrow” Adria had already forgotten she was set to start school so soon. A way to keep her out of trouble and under a close eye she figured.

“Where are we going” She asked

“My bar. Well, half my bar. There’s someone I want you to meet. She’s the same age as you and will be at the same school. I’ve given her the heads up that I want you looked after.” Ness sighed “Everything here might seem a bit rough around the edges. And believe me I know it’s not the posh shit you’re used to in Phoenix. It’s not all bad, you’ll get out what you put in here.” It was cliché bullshit advice and Ness knew it. Everyone Adria knew in Phoenix was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Drug kingpins dressed in suits and ties and presenting themselves as respectable businessmen in public. She would get none of that here. There was no front, Ness surrounded herself with the Southside Serpents since she was 16 and Alejandro Rivera hated her for it. It was the reason after her sister’s death she never saw her niece again. 

Adria stared out the window on the ride to the White Wyrm. Nothing here was pristine, it seemed everything was marked with graffiti or trash. She found it hard to accept this as her life. The bar was busy, filled with men and women in black leather jackets. The same as her aunt wore. The Southside Serpents. Her father told her multiple times her aunt was a criminal and ran with a bike gang. She never thought she’d see it first hand

“Toni!” Ness shouted over the music “I have someone I want you to meet” She ushered Adria over to the bar

“Adrianna, this is Toni Topaz. She’s a sophomore same as you, she’ll be around to help you out on your first day at Southside High”

The girl behind the bar put down the glass she was cleaning and held out her hand with a smile 

“It’s nice to meet you Adrianna” Adria took her hand and shook it

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Call me Adria.” 

The two girls sized each other up in silence. Adria noticed she also had a leather jacket, and that her entire look screamed grunge. Beat up flannels, fishnets, more leather. Immediately Adria knew she didn’t belong anywhere around here. If people in this town looked anything like Toni she had a bad feeling her first day of her knew school would be worse than she anticipated.

\---

Sure enough her first day of school was going about as well as she thought it would. Her Calvin Klein crop top and Lucky brand jeans stood out amongst the sea of leather and flannel. It felt like walking into a grunge concert. On top of that she had to go through the metal detector 3 different times while everyone stared, she had more difficulty getting to class than she did getting through airport security. Then there was the cherry on top of the cake. Toni Topaz as her peer mentor.

“Hey so, first class of the day is English, which you’ll have with me. After that you have Chemistry and History. I’ll have to see if anyone else lines up with that…” Toni was looking over her schedule with a fine toothed comb. According to Ness, Toni was supposed be her liaison to the younger serpents. All which were supposed to be keeping a watchful eye on her.

“From today on you’re an honorary Serpent. You’ll sit with us at lunch and we’ll keep you from being food for the Ghoulies.” She paused for a second “Possibly literally. The rumors of cannibalism are unsubstantiated but better safe than sorry.”

Adria raised an eyebrow “Awesome. Thanks.”

Classes were underwhelming. Unlike prep school no one cared if she underachieved. She could sit quietly on her phone and no one seemed to bother her, she guessed her luck had to turn around at some point.

And it did. Until lunch.

“So this is the cartel princess, huh?” Toni sat her down at a table filled with much larger boys with leather jackets. All Southside Serpents. 

“Fangs. Shut up.” Toni smacked him upside the back of the head before sitting down herself. “The idiot with the mouth is Fangs, and the large one is Sweet Pea” 

She wasn’t wrong. He was extremely tall even sitting down. But then again it wasn’t hard to seem large next to her slim 5’1” frame.

“The cartel princess has a name. Adria.” Adria threw her bag onto the table and took a look at the meager sandwich the school had provided

“But really.” The boy named Fangs leaned over the table “How much time is your dad doing? How many hits did he call? Is it true they string up snitches by their feet on public bridges to send a message?”

He didn’t have time to spew out more questions before Toni threw an apple at his head which he managed to dodge at the last second. She wasn’t entirely paying attention as she was noticing out of the corner of her eye that the one known as Sweet Pea was glaring daggers at her.

Keeping her mouth shut had never been Adria’s strong suit.

“So are you just going to keep staring at me or are you going to tell me why you want to stab me after we’ve just met” She fixed her eyes on Sweet Pea who looked taken aback. 

“I don’t care if your Aunt’s a Serpent. We don’t need some Northsider-like outsider here. Why don’t you go cross the tracks where you belong” He scoffed

“First of all. I have no idea what any of that shit means. Second I’m here and you’re stuck with me, if you have a problem with that go take it up with the Feds.” Adria shot back her biggest shit eating grin. 

“Alright. That’s enough” Toni said “Like it or not. Both of you. Adria is a part of our dysfunctional Serpent family.” The bell rang “Now if you’ll excuse us, Adria and I have gym class to get to.” The two girls got up and collected their things before leaving the cafeteria.

“God, she’s hot.” Fangs smiled

“She’s a bitch.” Sweet Pea rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag. “Sooner she’s gone the better.”


	2. Unwelcoming Committee

“Okay so that’s the ins and outs of draught beer pouring” Toni put her hands on her hips “Tall Boy wants a Budweiser, let’s see what you got.”

It was Adria’s first day working at the White Wyrm. And it sucked. She followed Toni’s directions and titled the glass as she pulled the lever and poured in the beer.

“That….is half head. You need to angle it so you get more beer and less foam.”

“This is stupid. I shouldn’t even be here.” Adria groaned and leaned up against the bar

“Listen.” Toni lined herself up to Adria “I get you think this is beneath you and you’ve never worked a day in your life. But you’re a Southsider now, designer jeans or not. So get used to it.” She backed up a few steps to give Adria some room “Now try again. You need to get it this time. We don’t have the money to waste on shit pours.”

“Jesus fucking Christ this should not be this difficult” Adria groaned as she stared at another glass half full of foam.

“There she is” She looked up to see Ness walking to the bar with a big smile on her face “How did she hold up, Toni?”

“Well.” Toni sighed “She’s a shit bartender but we’ll have her up to snuff in a couple weeks. As far as school goes she sticks out but she’ll be a Southsider in no time”

“Well, she’s not dead so I do have to thank you for that” Ness raised her pint and took a large swig.

“Also day 1 and she’s already putting Sweet Pea in his place” Toni smirked

“What?” Ness put her drink down “Adria come on. The boy’s got some serious anger issues. The last thing I need is him snapping and you ending up with permanent brain damage.”

“Wow. That’s some exaggeration” Adria replied “You seriously think he’s going to hit me? A girl half his size in the middle of a high school cafeteria? I bet that’d make him look real tough.” She had never been in a fight in her life though. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to start now.

“Just…don’t push him too far.” Ness resigned herself to the fact that there was no way in hell her niece was going to listen to her “if your case worker finds out you’re getting into fights it’s only going to make things difficult”

“I’ve got this. No physical fights, scouts honor.” Adria smiled

“I’ll take what I can get” Ness took another sip of her beer “Now if you’ll excuse me I need to take a look at the end of the month books. Keep up the good work Toni”

“No _physical_   fights, huh?” Toni smiled after Ness was sufficiently out of sight

“Tearing people down with words is an Adrianna Rivera Specialty.”

“It’s like you walked out of Mean Girls. Or Heathers”

“Toni. I have no idea what Heathers is. But I’m definitely a Regina.” Adria flipped her hair trying to give her best impression

“You don’t know Heathers” Toni feigned surprise “I’m not surprised honestly, but it’s the OG Mean Girls. Except with more murder. That’s it, you’ve been conscripted to join in a movie night.”

\---------------------------------------------------

By the time the weekend came around Ness was going crazy making sure everything was perfect for a movie night. The usual takeout boxes and newspapers covering the table were wiped clear, and the counter tops were stacked with snacks she bought the day before.

“Okay girls, there are plenty of snacks and pizza is on its way. If you need anything just give me a call, I’ll be out the majority of the night making sure the Wrym doesn’t catch fire”

“Bye Ness!” Both Toni and Adria shouted in unison.

It was maybe 10 minutes after the pizza arrived that there was another knock on the door

“Expecting anyone else?” Toni asked

“No. Ness shouldn’t be back for hours.”

Toni pulled a switch blade out of her purse and slowly moved to the door. “Stay behind me” she whispered.

‘Seriously?’ Adria mouthed as Toni swung up open the door, her knife going inches away from the stomach of the person on the other side.

“Fangs!” Toni shouted putting her knife down “What the fuck?”

“Woah, woah” Fangs was laughing while putting his hands up in the air “Nessie invited me! She promised pizza and snacks, you know I’m a sucker for free food. And I am your next door neighbor, Adria. I’m offended I wasn’t invited in the first place”

“Don’t let Ness hear you call her that or she’ll kill you before I get the chance. Get your ass in here.” Toni shut the door behind him.

“So when do we get started? Are we gonna talk about boys? Play some truth or dare, maybe some never have I ever? Topless pillow fight or two?” Fangs sat down at the table and grabbed a slice of pizza “You know. Typical girl’s sleep over stuff”

“Not even in your dreams, Fangs.” Adria rolled her eyes “So are we gonna watch this movie or what?”

“Are we not inviting Sweet Pea? I thought he was a staple?”

Adria glared at Fangs while he sorted through the pile of snacks on the counter, taking a bite of his slice. She was outside her comfort zone already trying to be friends with Toni, then Fangs showing up threw her for another loop. The last thing she needed was the tall, angry one glaring at her while she tried to watch cheesy 80’s movies.

“I think its best it’s just the three of us tonight. Let Adria ease into Southside life” Toni shot a reassuring smile at her “Besides Fangs, we’re going to have enough problems trying to get food before you eat all of it. If we bring Sweet Pea here Adria and I will starve.”

“Fine. Fine.” Fangs conceded “But I’m telling him we had a threesome.”

“You absolutely are not.”

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fangs must have left around 2 or 3 am and Toni decided to stay for the night. Overall her first movie night/sleepover had gone well. Toni was really trying to connect with her, despite how awful she had been the first couple days after they met.

Adria stared up at the ceiling and stretched out her arms, only to immediately hit something solid

“Fuuuuck.” She must have jumped a foot in the air as she looked to her side to see Toni clutching her eye. Right, they had shared the same tiny twin size bed last night. It was a feat that they both fit. 

“Jesus, I’m never sharing a bed with you again. You nearly pushed me off 4 times last night and now I probably have a black eye. “Toni sat up and ran her hands through her hair to remove the tangles

“This bed is barely big enough for me. I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea to share.” Adria grumbled. She got out of bed and ran a brush through her hair, tousling it in the mirror until she was satisfied “Up until a week ago I had a king size. I’d give anything for my beautiful memory foam mattress and my down pillows.” She must have looked like she had stars in her eyes

“Ah, yes. Rich girl luxury.” Toni laughed “How the mighty have fallen, now she sleeps on a hand me down twin mattress like the rest of us.” Adria made a face at her while she rummaged through her overstuffed closet. The weather was starting to get a chill and she had next to nothing to deal with it. In another couple of months there would be snow. She shuddered at the thought.

“So I text Fangs last night after he left and he agreed that we should all head over to Pop’s for brunch” Toni walked over to the closet as well “I didn’t bring a change of clothes so I’m stealing some of yours. Welcome to friendship with Toni”

“Pop’s?” Adria asked “That’s the diner, right? If so I’m down. I could use some breakfast”

“Great!” Toni smiled, pulling a shirt out of the closet “I’m borrowing this one.”

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Is it too early for a strawberry milkshake?” Adria asked eyeing over the menu as Toni sat across from her

“Ads. It’s 12:30. Even if you wanted a milkshake at 7AM I’d tell you to go for it.” Toni hadn’t even bothered to look at a menu, she never strayed too far from her regular.

“Did you just call me Ads?” She raised an eyebrow and put down her menu

“Adria is too long, plus I feel like Ads has a more Southside feel to it. It’s your new edgy, bad girl persona.” Toni could hardly contain her laughter

“I’ve never been edgy in my life.” She looked down at the outfit picked out for the day. She didn’t look like a Southsider at all. She didn’t even know if she wanted to be one of them. Hopefully soon her father’s legal team would sort out his release and she’d be home in Phoenix, ready for her next jet set to Rodeo Drive.

Toni lifted up her head as the doorbell rang and waved someone over. Adria looked up as well to see Fangs walk in, followed by Sweet Pea.

“What did you do?” She whispered harshly

“Hey guys!” Toni waved them over “Have a seat!” she flashed Adria a quick smile.

Adria looked back at the door to notice Fangs speed walking toward the booth, and then sliding in next to Toni. Adria felt a wave of dread crash into her as she looked up to see Sweet Pea standing over her.

“Are you going to move over or what?” he asked, his voice completely deadpan. She quietly moved over to the window and attempted to stare down Toni, who would only smile in return. After the waitress came and took orders the table was overtaken by silence. Adria stared at the table, stacking creamers then knocking them over, re-stacking them again.

“So…” Fangs tried to break the ice “How are you liking Riverdale so far, Adria?”

“Its…good.” She kept her eyes on the construction of her creamer tower. She could hear Sweet Pea scoff next to her and tried her best to ignore it.

“Think you’re gonna join the serpents? You’re an honorary member already considering your aunt and all. We could go through initiation together.” Fangs was all smiles this morning, it was almost like he completely forgot the tense atmosphere at the table. Or he was deliberately ignoring it.

“You just want to see her dance.” Toni threw a sugar packet at him

“Dance? You have to dance to join a gang?” Adria lifted her head up from her makeshift tower to look at Toni

“What does it matter? You honestly think princess here could be a Serpent?” Sweet Pea spoke up, not even sparing a glance in her direction

“You think I can’t?” Adria turned so she was facing him, her back up against the wall so she didn’t have to be any closer than necessary “I’m tougher than I look”

“Yeah? Ever been in a fight?” He angled himself to hover over her, his height was imposing on its own but the lack of light in his eyes made it worse.  “You’d be the weakest link we have. You can’t handle it”

Adria was done shrinking down in her seat, back against the wall. She sat up straight, as tall as she could, which was still considerably shorter than Sweet Pea

“I’m anything but weak” her eyes were serious as well, burning with resolve. She didn’t know why she felt the need to prove herself. She shouldn’t be here long, and in the grand scheme of things the opinion of one hot headed gang member shouldn’t matter. But she wanted to belong to something, just as she always had. Maybe she needed to adapt.

“Prove it.” His face was so close she could feel his warm breath on her skin. The exchange was far too intimate for her liking, but she wasn’t one to back down from a glaring match. Each second felt like an hour passed, until Toni finally broke it up.

“Pea, that’s enough. We’re here to have breakfast.”

Adria and Sweet Pea both took their eyes off each other and moved back to their respective sides of the booth. The rest of breakfast was silent, the tension somehow getting 10x worse. Adria stared out the window, picking at her food while Fangs and Toni were both on their phones. Sweet Pea, however, finished his meal as fast as he could before he slammed money down on the table and stormed out.

“That went well…All things considered.” Fangs said after he left

“Are you serious? That went _well_?” Adria put down her fork and stared at him “The only way that could have gone worse is if one of us stabbed the other. What’s his issue with me?”

“He’s hated the Northside for a long time. They blame us for all their problems and generally just shit on us. I don’t quite understand why he has an issue with you since you’re from out of town.” Toni sighed “But one thing does need to be said, Ads. You can’t just join the Serpents to prove a point. If you join it needs to be for the right reasons.”

Adria let her head rest against the window. Why couldn’t anything ever be easy?


	3. Hold My Beer

A couple weeks passed since the debacle at Pop’s. Things were quiet for the most part. Adria and Sweet Pea ignored each other like their lives depended on it. The worst being the history class that she only shared with him. But overall things were improving. She and Toni were growing closer, and she was also spending quite a bit of time with her new neighbor. When he wasn’t spending time with the enemy that is.

“Thanks for the ride home, Fangs.” Adria handed his spare helmet back to him

“Of course, Ads. We’re next door neighbors, why wouldn’t I give you a ride home?”

“Ugh. That’s going to stick isn’t it? I guess I don’t hate it.” She shivered as she watched Fangs put his bike under the car park next to his trailer “I don’t know how you guys live here. With all this…weather.”

Fangs laughed “If you owned anything aside from crop tops and ripped jeans maybe you’d survive. Not like I’m complaining, it’s a good look.” He winked at her. There was no way she would be able to buy an entire new wardrobe with her budget of 0 dollars. She’d have to ask Ness if she had anything she could use. The idea of using hand me downs was definitely a hard one to get used to.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow” Adria smiled and walked into her new home to see Ness sitting on the couch, the screams coming from the TV indicating she was catching up on the old horror movies she loved so much.

“Hey, Ness. Can I ask you something?” Adria threw her purse down on one of the kitchen chairs and plopped down in the chair next to her aunt

“Yeah of course” Ness sat up and paused the TV, causing the room to go silent “What’s up, buttercup?”

“Well. The weather here sucks and I have nothing to deal with it. The warmest thing I own are some thin sweaters.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah your crop tops aren’t gonna keep you warm for much longer. I think I have some old clothes from a few years ago in the basement that I never got around to getting rid of. Let me bust ‘em out and we’ll wash what you want and finally donate what you don’t. You look to be about my size when I was a few years younger.”

Adria looked at Ness, her aunt looked more like her than her own mother did. At least from what she could see from pictures. Even some of the older Serpent members had mentioned that she looked like Ness from high school.

“I didn’t know we even had a basement. Or that trailers had basements in general.”

“Cool it with the classism, Penthouse Barbie” Ness laughed “First off, this is a double wide. Second, it’s a glorified crawl space filled with cobwebs. Not a place for late night parties. Don’t worry though, I’ll clean the spiders off the bags before I bring them up.”

“I really didn’t need to know about the spiders” Adria shuddered “And I don’t think anyone’s called me a Barbie before.”

“You’re a beautiful girl, Adrianna. I would know since you look nearly identical to me when I was your age.” Ness flashed a smile and got up from her seat “I’ll be right back”

Adria watched as Ness opened a door in the hallway and disappeared behind it. She settled into her phone looking at all the photos her old friends were posting on Instagram. Pictures of their recent trip to some new exclusive club in Las Angeles. Sitting in the VIP area with bottle service. She missed her old life more than anything. Brunch with her father on Sundays, Friday nights with the girls at a different club each weekend. In Riverdale her fake ID would get her nowhere, not like the Wrym carded anyone anyway.

A long sigh escaped her lips, it was easier to pretend her new life was fine when she avoided social media. None of her old ‘friends’ contacted her after her father’s trip to prison. The isolation from her old group was hard to cope with, but none of them had any loyalty to her. Hell, she wouldn’t even be surprised if they were close to her because of her family and her money. She wanted to believe that people here were different, even if they only reason they were around her initially was at her aunt’s request.

“Something wrong?” Ness threw two large black trash bags of clothes onto the floor and shut the basement door behind her

“Just in my own head, I guess.” Adria put her phone back into her pocket “When do you think my dad’ll be able to call from prison? It’s been about a couple weeks now.”

“He’s probably just settling in and spending most of his time with his lawyers, I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon.” She brought the bags to the living room and dumped their contents onto the ground. There was loads of blacks and greys with some dark blues and greens thrown in here and there. Adria plopped herself on the floor and began sorting through the sea of flannel and leather. Finding anything that stood out to her. It wasn’t her style at all, but then again Toni rocked it so maybe she could too.

“I don’t think your classmates will give you as much shit with all this. You’ll look the part of a Southside High student. Ness said “Just remember, it’s just for the colder seasons. If it’s really that bad we can check out the local thrift stores but we definitely don’t have the budget to match the clothes you brought.”

“I know, Ness. I understand.” Adria had resigned herself that this might be the case on the bus ride in. She felt a bit like Alice falling down the rabbit hole at times. Riverdale was an entirely new world and she was determined to show she was strong. Even if that meant sucking it up and wearing hand me downs and thrift store finds. Hell, she would even make them look good.

 

\---------------

 

The next day Adria walked into school in her ‘new’ clothes she received from Ness. After careful consideration in the mirror that morning she decided on ripped jeans, a black tank top, dark green flannel, and to top it off- her aunt’s old, patch free, leather jacket.

For once, she blended. No Ghoulies looked at her like she was an injured deer waiting to be gutted. It was actually pretty refreshing. She sat down at her lab table for chemistry and plopped down her bags. Conveniently enough she had chemistry with Fangs. Not like it was great for either of their grades since they were both terrible at it.

“Ads?” She lifted her head to see Fangs standing wide eyed at the end of the table “Shit. You almost look like a completely different person.”

“I look like an idiot, don’t I? I knew I couldn’t pull off flannel and leather.”

“You look like a Serpent. Pretty impressive transformation for overnight. It’s a good look for you.” He set down his bag and sat next to her “You shouldn’t worry so much about appearances. They don’t matter as much as you think they do.”

Adria breathed a sigh of relief “Yeah, I’ll try. Just difficult when I feel like a kid playing dress up.”

“You’re overthinking it. It’s just clothes.”

He was probably right. Just clothes, she was still the same Adria. Even if she was wearing flannel, something she swore never to do. But it was for warmth. Not because she was trying to be something she wasn’t. Nope, same Adria. Just in a leather jacket. That was it.

By the time she arrived to lunch the table was already buzzing.

“Hey, guys. What’s going on?” Adria took a seat next to Toni. The conversation died immediately after she arrived, and more than one person’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“Ads?” Toni asked, a smile creeping on her face “Damn, girl you look great! Fangs said you had a makeover but this is something else.”

“I told you it was a good look!” Fangs walked over and slung his arm around her shoulder “what do you think Sweet Pea?”

Oh no. This is exactly what she didn’t want right now. He would open his mouth and all of her self-doubt that had been easing away over the course of the day would come flooding back.

For a long moment Sweet Pea didn’t say anything

“She certainly looks the part”

Adria was in awe. It wasn’t an outright insult. Sure, it was vaguely implied but it wasn’t outright malicious.

“Okay then” Toni nodded with a smile, “Anyway big news, Ads. Starting tomorrow you won’t be the new kid anymore.”

”What, really? Who is it? Do you know them?” Adria was more than excited to not be the newest one in the group. Maybe it would get Sweet Pea to lay off her once he had someone else to take his anger out on.

“Forsyth Pendleton Jones the Third. FP Jones’ son.”

“Who’s that?” Adria looked around at the rest of the table. Clearly everyone else knew what was going on.

“He’s the leader of the Serpents. Well. Kind of. He’s in jail right now.” Fangs responded

“Figures she doesn’t know the name of the leader of the gang she’s trying to imitate.” Sweet Pea swept some of his hair out of his face “She may look the part but she’s still not one of us.”

“Fine.” Adria slammed her hand down on the table “What do I need to do to prove to you that I have what it takes?”

“Tomorrow. The quarry. We’ll figure something out.” Pea stared back at her across the table. She was at the end of her rope dealing with his attitude. She would do whatever the idiot wanted to prove herself worthy to be part of his stupid little group. The stupid little group that was starting to mean a lot more to her than she initially planned.

The next day came quicker than she would have liked. Sure enough, Toni was absent most of the morning showing around the newest member of their group the school. She didn’t see her again until she was able to pull her into the bathroom after English.

“Toni, what did I agree to?” She looked around to make sure no one was around to hear her fear “I was up all night worried about what the hell that douchebag is going to have me do”

“Okay. Calm down and take a deep breath”

She did as Toni instructed

“You’re going to be fine. It won’t be as bad as you think, I promise. That’s all I can tell you as I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

Toni’s reassurance didn’t make her feel any better. She greeted the newest member at lunch, Jughead Jones. He seemed nice enough, although she couldn’t focus on anything aside from what might be happening at the quarry. The sand in the clock ran out much quicker than she would have liked. Before she knew it she was on the back of Fang’s bike on the way to the quarry. The only promise that Toni and Sweet Pea would meet them there.

“How are you feeling?” Fangs asked once they had finally arrived. The quarry was too cold for swimming this time of year. Adria walked over to the fire pit that he was trying to start. Waiting for something to warm her up.

“Nervous. But you have to promise not to tell that pompous asshole you call your best friend.” She whispered harshly. More of the Serpents she didn’t really talk to were starting to show up and her nerves continued to grow. She had genuinely hoped it would just be the four of them.

“I won’t say a word. Promise.” He put a hand on her shoulder and ushered her to a fold up chair by the fire.

It seemed like ages before Toni and Sweet Pea showed up. When they finally did they brought enough booze to drown a small family.

“Hope you’re ready for what’s to come, Princess.” Sweet Pea walked over and put an entire bottle of whiskey into her hands “This one’s yours. Better get started.”

This was it? Her task was to drink a bottle of whiskey on her own? This was like an average Tuesday back in her old life. This was going to be much easier than she thought.

 

\--------------------------

 

Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs were all in awe about how much the small framed city girl could put away. She drank her entire bottle of whiskey without even batting an eye, then had a couple swigs from Fang’s bottle. By the end of her bender she was sitting on Toni’s lap, giggling at just about anything that was anyone said. Sure everyone else had been drinking, but she was the drunkest girl at the party by far.

“So is this it?” Adria slurred “This is nothinggggg” she laughed, throwing her head back. She barely missed bashing Toni in the nose.

“I think she’s ready” Toni peeked around her friend at the guys

“Alright, Ads. Welcome to your trial” Fangs said, trying to be serious although he was also clearly drunk.

“We don’t keep secrets in the Serpents so your first task is to go around and tell us all what you _really_ think of us” Sweet Pea stared her down from across the fire “Let’s start easy. With what you think of Toni Topaz.”

Adria looked turned to look at Toni and smiled

“Toni Topaz. I first thought you were a huuuuuuge bitch. But you’re so nice!” Adria’s grin grew “You’re a precious angel in what I thought would be a hell hole. I love you, Toni. You’re such a good friend” she grabbed her friend around the neck and gave her a huge hug, listening to a small chorus of ‘awww’ around them.

They went around while she gave her opinion of the other Serpents that were there, not like it was much considering she barely talked to most of them. They were all superficial drunk ramblings. Then it brought around to the end, with only Fangs and Sweet Pea left.

“Fangs…Don’t think I don’t notice you’re a huge pervert” She laughed “But you’re cute so I forgive you. Thanks for being around and helping me feel like I have a home here”

“Cute, huh?” Fangs laughed and gave her a wink

“Not gonna happen.”

“Well. We’ve saved the best for last Ads. Tell us exactly how you feel about Sweet Pea.”

This one was a doozy and everyone around the circle knew it. They had been watching for weeks as the two barely spoke and when they did everyone around them prepared to break up a fight.

“Sweet Pea, huh?” Adria’s smile faded as she locked eyes with him across the flames “Sweet Pea is the biggest dick I’ve ever met. I have no idea what is issue is with me as I’ve done literally nothing to him. This is all made significantly more infuriating by his face. His stupid attractive face.”

Adria stopped dead in her tracks. The whole idea of the gathering was that getting her outrageously drunk she would speak exactly what was on her mind. And sure enough she did, even the things she had shoved way in the back. The murmurs around the circle had gone completely silent as everyone stared at her.

“This has been so much fun. Toni, can you take me home now?” she looked at her friend pleadingly.

“Well, there is one more thing Ads.” Toni gave her a half-hearted smile as she pushed her off her lap

“Strip.” One of the other Serpents said, she was pretty sure his name was Andre.

“What?” Adria looked back at Toni “This is a joke right?”

“I’m afraid not. I’ll help hold you up” and she did. Toni held Adria’s arm as she removed all her clothing down to her bra and underwear.

“Fine. Now what?” She demanded, her buzz quickly wearing off with the cold and fear settling in

“Now you jump in the quarry. Show us how tough you are” Sweet Pea stood up from his seat “That’s what you wanted, right? A chance to prove yourself?”

Adria looked down, it was only about a 10 foot jump into the water. The incredibly cold water. She was already shivering, even with all the alcohol. She looked back at Toni who gave her a small nod, urging her to just get it over with. So she did.

Adria took a deep breath as she ran and jumped, doing her best to brace herself during the small fall for her fate. But it wasn’t enough. The cold water hit like daggers and took her breath away. At least she thought it did but the scream she heard echoing through the air sounded a lot like her own. When she regained her composure she noticed Fangs standing on the edge of the water, his hand outstretched.

She swam over and her friend lifted her out of the water, placing his jacket over her shoulders. Trying to rub her arms to warm her up

“You killed it Ads, you looked tough. Screaming and all.” Fangs smiled “Let’s get you by the fire”

Fangs walked her back to the small beacon of heat as everyone around her cheered and gave her pats on the back. She stood in front the fire with another bottle of whiskey trying to warm herself up before putting her clothes on

“Holy shit, I’m glad that’s over.” Adria lamented to Toni while she put her clothes back on “I’ve never been that cold in my life”

“You held up really well. Especially for someone who just arrived from the southwest a few weeks ago. There’s no way Sweet Pea can deny you’re tougher than you look now” She took the bottle from Adria and took a couple of swigs herself.

“Speaking of, where is the devil incarnate?” Adria asked, scouting the clearing which had erupted into a full blown party now that they were done with her ‘trial’. She didn’t see him anywhere and she had a drunken bone to pick.

“Last I knew he went to take a piss in the woods. Why, what’s up?”

“Funny coincidence. I also have to take a piss. In the woods. Right now. Be right back!” Toni stood, confused, as Adria all but ran to the tree line. What in the hell was she doing?

Adria reached the trees and glanced around. She found a couple people who snuck away from the fire to go make out in the privacy of the trees. She ignored them and continued her search for who she was actually looking for. And she found him. Sweet Pea had turned around from a tree outside of everyone’s view and was zipping up his pants when Adria spotted him.

“You!” she yelled “I need to talk to you”

Sweet Pea stood dumbfounded as she strolled right up to him, chest to chest as she stared into his eyes.

“Why do you hate me for no reason? And yes, it is no reason because you’ve never even bothered to have a conversation with me.”

Sweet Pea just stared down at her for a few seconds. He was at a loss for words and the booze wasn’t helping.

“I know exactly your type. Girls like you think they can get whatever they want because they have money. But not here, Princess. Not with me or the Serpents.” He didn’t take his eyes off her

“You’ve never met a girl like me.” Aria attempted to stand on her tip toes to look taller and more imposing but she failed miserably. She was far too drunk to be taken seriously. She teetered back and her reflexes were all but gone. She made no attempt to catch herself as she fell backward.

Sweet Pea instinctively grabbed Adria’s arm to keep her from falling and pulled her back up, securing her with a hand behind her waist. Adria looked up, both of them looking shocked at the other. She could hardly feel the pain in her shoulder from being yanked so hard.

For some reason neither of them moved to correct the issue. Later, both of them would blame being too drunk. Adria stared up at the boy she told herself she absolutely despised. Hands grasping his arms. His incredibly toned arms. And then there was yelling.

“Ads?” she heard Toni yell “Please don’t be dead in a ditch” Toni turned the corner to see two people up against a tree, the dark obscuring their faces. “Have either of you seen Adria? She’s been gone for far too long.”

Both of them moved too slowly to have avoided it. Sweet Pea quickly pushed Adria back and she whipped herself around to face Toni. Both of them looking incredibly guilty.

“Uh. Hey…Toni.” Adria stood in front of Sweet Pea, putting her hands behind her back “Is it time to go home?”


	4. Princess of Regret

Adria woke up the next morning with a screaming headache and her stomach telling her that she was at risk of throwing up at any moment. She groaned as she sat up in her bed, noticing Toni sitting next to her. Toni gave a sigh of relief upon seeing her friend was awake.

“Shit, Ads. I’ve been checking your pulse half the night to make sure you were still alive. Fangs slept on your couch. You drank enough last night to kill anyone your size. Hell, even I would have died.” She walked over to the dresser and grabbed a Gatorade, banana, and some aspirin.

“What happened last night?” Adria groaned, taking the aspirin and drink and downing them in one go.

“How much do you remember?”

“I don’t know. I remember Sweet Pea handing me a whole bottle of Jack to drink by myself. I sat on your lap. After that it gets pretty hazy.”

There was a knock on the door as Fangs walked in, looking just as concerned as Toni did when she first woke up

“She lives!” He grinned before sitting on the bed with the other two girls. “Ness left money for food, said you’d probably need some for your epic hangover. How are you feeling?”

“Like death warmed over.” Adria tried to nibble on the banana Toni gave her but every bite seemed like it was going to come back up “Apparently I remember next to nothing about what happened last night so you guys will have to fill me in.”

Toni and Fangs gave each other a knowing look. Neither of them wanted to be the one to tell her about what happened.

“Guys. Come on. I’m sure over the course of my life I’ve done worse. Please don’t make me beg.”

“Well, uh. You nailed the trial. You jumped into that ice cold quarry in your underwear like a true champion.” Toni said

“That’s it? I’ve stripped in front of people multiple times while drunk. Can’t believe I didn’t die jumping into freezing cold water though.”

“That’s…not it. One of the things we do is get someone really drunk so they spill all their secrets about how they really feel about the group. And yours were fine. Until a point…” Toni was still hesitant

“You called me cute.” Fangs interjected, smiling like a maniac.

“Yeah…Not happening.” Adria replied

“That’s what you said last night too…” His smile quickly faded

“So we saved Sweet Pea for last since we know you two hate each other and there was no way that confession wasn’t going to be entertaining…” Toni continued

“And?” Adria was impatient trying to get to the bottom of why Toni was so apprehensive to tell her about the night’s events.

“Well. You said he was a dick. Which definitely wasn’t wrong. And then you said something about hating him and his attractive face.”

There was the reason neither Toni nor Fangs wanted to tell her. She sunk back into the sheets of her bed, resting her head into pillow. She genuinely hoped to disappear.

“Please tell me that was it.”

“I wish it was” Toni looked over to Fangs. She had told him the events last night because she wasn’t sure how to process it and swore him to secrecy. He hadn’t betrayed her trust before and she had no reason to expect that he would now.

“Noooooo.” Adria took another pillow and covered her face, attempting to brace herself for what came next.

“Well after your swim you disappeared into the woods after asking where he was, saying you had to take a piss. You were gone for far longer than I was comfortable with and you were definitely stumbling all over the place when I saw you leave so I was worried you had passed out in a ditch or something. So Fangs and I went looking for you and…I found you. Definitely not where I thought you’d be.”

“Toni stop stalling and just rip the bandaid off” Adria’s voice was muffled beneath the pillow

“Well I found you and Sweet Pea. Together.” Toni trailed off again. This whole thing was painfully awkward, even for her “I don’t know what happened between you two but when I found you, you both looked pretty cozy. Being in each other’s arms and all.”

Adria shot up from her bed, her eyes looking like that of a wild animal

“I did _what_???” She screamed. Probably loud enough for the whole trailer park to hear.

“Like I said, we don’t know what happened so let’s not jump to conclusions” Toni put her hands on Adria’s shoulders trying to give some amount of comfort “Let’s take your mind off of it with a couple bad movies and then when you’re feeling like you’re not going to puke your guts out we’ll go to Pop’s and get you some fries”

  
“No fries. I just want to die of embarrassment now.”

“Oh, come on Ads. It’s really not that bad.” Fangs put a hand on her shoulder as well “He’s hot. If I got that drunk I’d probably make a move too.”

“That’s not helping, thanks Fangs.”

“Maybe he doesn’t even remember.” Toni suggested

“Did you happen to see how much he drank?”

“From what I saw, definitely not enough to black out” Fangs continued to be unhelpful

“Fuck.” Adria whimpered and covered her face with a pillow once again.

 

\--------------------

               

That weekend Adria holed herself up in the trailer, watching old horror movies that didn’t age well with Ness. Ness didn’t know much about what happened at the quarry, aside from the rumors about what her niece had said while she was drunk. She found it hard to believe that Adria would get so worked up about something so minor. Never the less she didn’t press about it. She would come to her when she wanted to talk.

The following Monday it was nearly unbearable for Adria to get out of bed. She tossed and turned and snoozed her alarm about 3 times before Ness came in and forced her out of her bed. She threw her hair into a messy bun and grabbed whatever clothes were at the front of her closet and met Fangs outside.

“You still look like hell. How are you still hungover 3 days later?” he raised an eyebrow as he tossed her a helmet

“Not hungover. Just had to be pried out of bed as I don’t want to look anyone at that school in the eye right now” She strapped on the helmet and hopped on the bike behind Fangs, wrapping her arms around him

“Relax. I’m sure everyone’s forgotten all about it already.”

\-----------------------

They did not forget about it.

She noticed the eyes of all the Serpents who were at the quarry that night on her for the entirety of the day. For once she actually focused on class to keep her mind off of things. Which wasn’t helping as much as she wanted it to. By the time lunch rolled around she opted to eat in the library instead of the cafeteria.

In the library she noticed Jughead sitting alone at one of the tables. Since she was such a space cadet the previous Friday and he was one of the few people not at the quarry she figured she should probably make a proper introduction.

“Hey, Jughead right? Mind if I sit here?” She whispered, as to not incur the wrath of the librarian

“Um. Yeah. Sure.” He pushed his books aside to make room at the table

“We didn’t really get a chance to talk last week so I figured I’d introduce myself properly. I’m Adria, previous new kid.” She held out her hand to shake, which he hesitantly took

“Jughead. But you already knew that.”

“How come you’re in the library instead of sitting with the Serpents? Your dad’s basically the king from what I’ve heard.”

“I could ask you the same thing. Minus your dad being a Serpent.” He gave her a sly smile

“Well. I’m currently avoiding everyone over some things that happened at the quarry last weekend. Which makes you and the library a safe space. Now it’s your turn to tell me”

“I’m kinda a lone wolf. Just because my dad’s a Serpent doesn’t mean I want to be one too. They said not sitting with them made me a target for the Ghoulies so here I am.”

“Well.” Adria smiled “Take it from someone with Serpent blood who’s not in the gang. They’re good people…for the most part. I don’t think they’ll be offended if you sit with them.”

Jughead chuckled a little “They’re such good people. Exactly why you’re avoiding them right now.”

“Okay so I’m a bad example” she laughed quietly as well “Don’t do anything drunkenly stupid like me and you won’t have to be ashamed to face them”

Her conversation with Jughead went a lot better than she thought it would. He was a little on the quiet side and she did have to keep it going herself, but he was good people. So much so she almost forgot that she was avoiding all of the people she usually talked with. That quickly changed when the bell rang and she was forced to go to her least favorite class. History.

Adria walked to her seat as if she was walking to the gallows. She sat down and stared at her phone’s home screen, hyper aware of when Sweet Pea sat down next to her. Sure, they hated each other but that didn’t negate that Ness asked all of them to make sure she was safe from the Ghoulies.

She tried her best to actually focus on the lesson but she couldn’t think at all. It was eating her up inside not knowing what happened, to the point where all she could do was take action. She wrote him a note.

 

_Meet me outside by the bikes after school. I need to ask you about Friday. –A._

Short, sweet, and to the point. Now all she had to do was make it through two more classes and hope he showed up.

 

\------------------------

 

At the end of the day she waited by the bikes. She picked it because they both had to go there anyway, but then again so did nearly everyone else she didn’t want to see right now. Overall, it wasn’t her best idea. Regardless, she waited. And waited. And waited. For what felt like years. Fangs was sitting on his bike, impatiently checking his watch waiting to leave.

“Sorry. Just give me a few more minutes and we’ll go.” Adria conceded.

It was only a minute or so of her anxiously looking around the crowd of exiting students that she noticed him. And he was heading straight her way.

“What did you need?” He asked, holding up the note she had passed to him.

“Not here. Follow me” she gave Fangs a half smile as she led Sweet Pea to a small corner on the outside of the school that didn’t have anyone near it.

“Planning on trying to get in my face again?” He asked, taking her by surprise

“What? No. I….Listen. I blacked out before that fun little circle game even happened. Toni was able to fill me in on what she saw but I need details about the rest. Did we… _do_ ….anything?” she was nervous. Extremely nervous. Not only was she dreading a potential ‘yes’ but she was also dreading the backlash she might receive from having this conversation in the first place.

To her dismay Sweet Pea burst out laughing.

“In your dreams, Princess. Listen I know you think I’m attractive and all but when Toni found us I was just making sure you didn’t fall and break your ass.”

Adria scowled, she knew this was a bad idea.

“I’m sorry I even asked. Thanks for the info.” She stormed off back to Fangs and angrily but her helmet on.

“How did it go?” Fangs asked

“I hope he crashes his bike” She groaned, climbing on behind him

 

\---------------

 

Fangs and Adria sat on her couch in silence for about an hour, watching the home improvement channel. She was still pissed off about what happened with Sweet Pea earlier and Fangs was just waiting for her to cool down so he didn’t get her wrath instead.

“None of these houses have any character.” Fangs groaned, shoving a handful of potato chips into his mouth

“They’re crisp and clean. You know, modern.” Adria replied, not taking her eyes of the TV

“I think you word you’re looking for is boring.”

Adria rolled her eyes “You’re boring.”

  
“Is that any way to talk to your best friend?” He put his hand up to his chest, feigning hurt

“Since when are you my best friend?”

“Where’s Toni then?”

Toni had opted to hang out with Jughead after school instead of joining her and Fangs. Something about reopening the school’s newspaper with him. She said she wanted to get back into photography and this would be the perfect chance, but Adria knew the real reason.

“Trying to fuck Jughead. I can’t blame her, he’s cute and she deserves it.”  She couldn’t be mad about it even if she tried.

“Are you jealous?” he was just trying to get under her skin now

“Of Toni or Jughead? Toni’s not really my type. As for Jughead he’s too quiet for me.”

Fangs laughed “Right, I forgot. You’re more into guys who try to pick fights with you.”

Adria couldn’t help but let a laugh slip as well “You know me, daddy issues out the ass.”


	5. Red Spray Paint

A few days had passed and thankfully things finally started to quiet down. School was finally starting to return to normal and Adria still hadn’t heard a thing from her father. It was discouraging to say the least. Thoughts raced through her head ranging from ‘maybe he’s just getting released soon’ to ‘maybe someone placed a hit on him and I’m the last to hear he died from a shiv to the gut’

She couldn’t focus on anything, not like that was out of the norm lately. She was stressed to the point where her morning runs weren’t helping, she couldn’t stomach eating most times, and she would return after school to watch old reruns of telenovelas. Ness was worried to say the least, but despite all the distractions she could think of nothing seemed to help. She knew nothing would improve until Adria heard from the person she needed to most.

Ness placed a heaping plate of tamales in the center of the table, smiling at her own work. It had been ages since she last made a meal at home as she hated cooking for one. When Adria came to live with her it just became easier to order takeout. Seeing her niece depressed for the few days was making her desperate enough to cook and she figured what better than to try to make an old favorite. Tamales.

“Dinner’s ready” She called out to the living room. Adria quietly pulled herself off the couch and placed herself at the dinner table. Her eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of the giant stack on the table.

“You took a break from your cooking hiatus to make tamales?” Adria stacked a few onto her plate “Very ambitious.”

“I think I did pretty well. I followed a blog about Mexican cooking. It’s a good read”

Adria’s face lit up for the first time in days and it was enough to make Ness’ heart swell. She watched as her niece took the first bite, and her face immediately fell.

“Oh wow. It’s great, Ness.” Adria tried to choke down the rest of her bite. It was absolutely terrible. She wasn’t sure if she even soaked the corn husks before steaming them. Ness followed her lead and immediately spat the bite back out

“This is awful. Wow.” She broke down laughing “I guess this is what I get for not cooking for years. Don’t eat that, I’m gonna order pizza.” Ness took her plate and immediately scrapped the contents into the garbage.

“Thanks, Aunt Ness.” Adria got out of her chair and helped her aunt clean up the mess “The thought really means a lot. Also, Maria’s cooking is a tough act to follow so don’t feel bad.” Her father had the same cook since she was a child. Maria was basically family. It was another thing she missed so much from Phoenix. She never gave it a second thought until now, but she didn’t want to know how many people lost their jobs when her father was carted off to prison.

 

 

The mess didn’t take long to clean and soon both were munching on slices of pizza, watching _Halloween_. Adria had her eyes glued to the screen as Judith watched her boyfriend leave her home, not knowing that her murderer was already in the house. The tension was building as Judith turned around to see-

**_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_ **

Adria screamed and jumped nearly a foot into the air before she picked up her phone. The caller display read ‘UNKNOWN’

“Can you press pause? I need to take this” Adria asked, feeling her heart rate starting to return to normal levels.

“Yeah of course, I’ve already seen this like five times.” Ness smiled, shooing the younger girl off

Adria returned to her room and shut the door behind her. She glanced at the screen once more before accepting the call “Hello?”

“Hola mija “her father’s voice came through the speaker and it was like the clouds finally cleared.

“Papá!” She nearly yelled “Where have you been? It’s been weeks.”

“Talking to my lawyers. I can’t say much more than that but I wanted to call you sooner.”

“Are you getting out? Please tell me you are. Aunt Ness tried to make tamales tonight and it just reminded me of how much I miss home.”

The line went quiet for half a minute before Alejandro replied “I wish I could say I was. My lawyers are doing all they can but…it’s not looking good.”

Adria tried to process it as best as she could but it just didn’t make sense. Her family’s lawyers were the best money could buy, there was nothing they weren’t able to do.

“But Papi…” Adria pleaded, hearing a chuckle from the other end of the line

“Papi or no, Mija. I promise you I will be out by your 17th birthday. I’ll even get you a new McLaren to replace the one they seized.”

Adria smiled to herself “Better be the Spider. You know I like to go fast” Maybe a little too fast, it was a good thing none of her speeding tickets ever stuck.

“I do not need to hear that” her father laughed again “You’re nearly a grown woman and I’m missing so much. Tell me about your biker aunt and her home town.” Adria rolled her eyes

“Aunt Ness is great, Papá. She even tried to make tamales tonight to make me feel better. They were terrible but the thought was there. School’s…terrible but its school. I’m making friends! We even have movie nights. They somehow roped me into watching terrible quality old films.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my daughter? The Adrianna I know would never tell me ‘it’s the thought that counts’. As much as I hate to admit it this seems to have been a good choice for you. Although I know your tíos would have loved to have you in my absence.”

There was a small series of beeps on the other end

“Unfortunately, Mija that’s my time. Te quiero. You’re growing into a strong woman and I couldn’t be more proud.”

“Te quiero, Papá”

Just like that, the line went dead. Adria placed her phone down on the night stand and flopped onto her bed. Every time her feeling of homesickness seemed to disappear it would come back with a vengeance.

“Fuck everything” She whispered to herself, staring at the ceiling.

 

\------------------------------

 

The next day life went on as usual. She rode with Fangs to school, suffered through her classes, and sat down with the Serpents at lunch. When she sat down, no one even paid attention. Which was always a relief. This time, however, Sweet Pea had placed a laptop in front of them. One that was covered in duct tape. Classy.

“Ads, you’re here” Toni smiled “You’ve got to see this, the Northside’s gone crazy and now they’re making snuff films.”

“What?” Adria scooched over to Toni and glanced over her shoulder to watch some red head with an army of well-built shirtless guys behind him. Talking about some Black Hood and how they’re going to take him down.

“Snuff film?” She looked at Toni “This looks like the start to a really weird porno.”

“Hey guys.” Jughead walked up and stopped apprehensively “I guess we’re not watching funny cat videos”

Sweet Pea turned the laptop around to show him and pressed play

“We were just talking about how Fangs can earn his Serpent stripes by bringing us the head of the Northsider that posted this” he gave Fangs a pat on the back as he smirked at Jughead, as if he knew this would get a rise out of him.

“Don’t” Jughead sighed “I know this guy. He’s a football player, kind of a lame target is you ask me.” Just like that his demeanor altered “If you want to prove something, you go after the black hood”

Adria saw Toni’s eyes narrow out of the corner of her eye as Sweet Pea spoke up again

“Why would we do that? The Black Hood is only targeting Northsiders”

‘ _Thank God for that’_ Adria thought

“As far as we’re concerned the Black Hood is doing our work for us. They’ve been blaming us for their problems for years. We’re sick of it.” Sweet Pea finished

Jughead sighed in defeat and walked off, leaving the table in a brief silence.

“Are you sure we need him here?” Sweet Pea scoffed “He’s less of a Southsider than Princess over here.”

Adria rolled her eyes.

“Not only is he blood, he’s FP’s blood. He’s one of us whether you like it or not.” Toni said “As for Adria she’s already proven herself to everyone but it seems like you didn’t get the memo.”

“Yeah. Let’s not talk about that night ever again.” Adria forced a smile, although it probably looked more like a grimace.

“Finally, something we agree on.” Sweet Pea locked eyes with her, as if daring her to say something. For once she didn’t rise to the bait.

“Shut the hell up, Sweet Pea” Toni groaned “No one’s in the mood.”

Thankfully the bell rang and released her from her what could have easily turned into her own personal hell. Adria watched as everyone picked up their bags and slowly started meandering toward their next class.

“Thanks, Toni.” Adria said as most everyone had cleared out of the cafeteria

“No problem. He’s being a huge douche and frankly I think everyone is over his shit now.” She put a hand on Adria’s shoulder “You’re one of us and everyone else thinks so. Ignore the idiot.”

Adria laughed “That really does mean a lot. Anyway, Ness is making one of her ‘specialties’ since her tamales were terrible. So if you want to come over for spaghetti tonight you’re always welcome at Casa de Rivera-Allen”

Toni made a face “Ads, I would love to but I already promised Jughead we would work on the cipher the Black Hood put out…”

“Oh…” Adria’s eyes widened “Well awesome. I hope that goes well for you.” She gave Toni a wink

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Anyone with eyes can see you’ve got a thing for the new boy. I don’t blame you, he’s cute.”

Toni blushed “It’s not like that. He’s got a girlfriend. If you looked up ‘Girl Next Door’ in the dictionary you’d find a full page picture of Betty Cooper”

“Wow. Girl Next Door, huh? Definitely not what I expected from Mr. Dark and Mysterious. I’m sure you’re more his type anyway. Only a matter of time before he sees it too.” Adria nudged Toni in the shoulder “We’ll miss you tonight but definitely tell me how it goes!”

 

\------------------------------

 

 That night Adria passed the time by chopping up mushrooms for her aunt’s ‘special’ spaghetti sauce. Although she wasn’t sure if Ness was allowed to call it special when the base was a store bought can of tomato sauce.

“Fuck!” Adria heard Ness grumbling with her face inside the pantry. She pulled out a can of sauce and examined it “This expired a year ago. I really should clean this whole thing out.”

Adria stopped chopping up mushrooms to look at her aunt “Anything you need me to do?”

Ness sighed “Can you stop by the bodega and pick up a couple cans of sauce? See if Fangs will go with you. I don’t want you out alone after dark.”

Adria sighed and threw on a coat “I’ll be back”

Just as she was told she paid a visit to her neighbor, pounding on his door. For a second she thought about if Fang’s parents would answer the door. Then again, that never happened. It seemed like everyone on the southside was either working multiple jobs to make ends meet or running errands for the Serpents. She probably only saw Ness as much as she did because of child services looming over their heads.

“Fangs!” She yelled

Fangs opened the door, confusion all over his face “What? Miss me already?”

“Terribly. I need someone to walk to the bodega with me. Apparently I’m too frail to go by myself.”

Fangs laughed “Have you seen yourself? Anyway what’s in it for me?”

“Ness’ spaghetti and my appreciation?”

“You got enough for 2 more? Sweet Pea and I are playing video games.”

Adria stopped in her tracks. “Sure…” apprehension was apparent in her voice, but considering she liked to consider herself sane, the idea of a serial killer out and about made her not want to go alone. Even if the bodega was a fairly short walk from the trailer park.

“Awesome!” Fangs smiled “I’ll grab Pea.”

Adria waited outside, rubbing her arms to keep herself warm. Regretting every decision she made up until this point.

Fangs exited the trailer with a disgruntled Sweet Pea following shortly behind. She wasn’t sure how to feel as he looked equally as upset about the arrangement. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how Fangs even convinced him. Especially in that short of a time.

The walk to the bodega was eerily silent. There wasn’t really anyone out on the streets and the company she kept didn’t say a word. Which was concerning but not necessarily surprising. She and Sweet Pea weren’t one to talk to each other by choice and Fangs must not have felt like keeping the peace tonight. Or maybe he was trying to avoid the fact that the awkward silence was his fault for inviting Sweet Pea in the first place.

Adria was now determined to make the trip as quick as possible. In addition to practically running to keep pace with the two boys, she quickly grabbed a couple cans of sauce from the store. She shot a quick text to Ness letting her know they would have two additional people for dinner tonight. All she got back in return was a string of smiley face emojis.

Adria met back up with Fangs and Sweet Pea outside, both of which seemed significantly less tense without her. The two were throwing play punches when they saw her.

“Ready to go?” Fangs smiled “I’m starving”

“Yeah of course” Adria raised the bag for both to see “Got the goods right here.”

The trio rounded the corner only for Sweet Pea to stop all of them

“What the fuck is this?”

Not even 20 feet away from them was the redhead from the snuff/porn video spray painting something onto the side of the bodega. Fangs looked and Sweet Pea and both of them seemed to reach a silent agreement. They weren’t leaving without showing this kid who ran this side of the tracks.

Adria followed the two as they stormed up to the red head and squared off. Adria wasn’t sure what was going to happen but she knew it wasn’t anything good. She stood next to Sweet Pea and Fangs ready to watch the entire scene play out.

“What do you think you’re doing” Sweet Pea shoved the guy’s shoulder so he was facing the group “Southside’s Serpent country.”

“Back off” The guy said “This doesn’t involve you.”

“Yeah?” Sweet Pea smirked “And who’s this for then? Hell, don’t tell me it’s for the Black Hood” he chuckled

The red head tried to walk away but both Sweet Pea and Fangs shoulder checked him, keeping him in place

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sweet Pea continued “You think you can just come here and tag our turf? Go back to the Northside”

“Move before someone gets hurt.” His eyes moved from Fangs, to Sweet Pea, and then locked onto Adria. Almost like he didn’t notice she was there until just now.

Both Sweet Pea and Fangs looked at each other and laughed. Adria was in awe of this kid. Didn’t he know that messing with any sort of gang was usually a bad idea?

Sweet Pea pulled a switch blade out of his coat pocket and released the knife “You’ve just made a big mistake” his smile was easy to see, even in the dark. It was clear he was in his element. As much as Adria would never admit it to a living soul he looked really good doing it. She scolded herself internally.

The guy’s eyes narrowed as he reached into the pocket of his hoodie. None of them expected him to pull out a gun and wave it in their faces

“Who made a mistake?” His voice grew louder to the point where he was yelling. All three were in a state of shock, Adria worst of all. Fangs immediately put his hands into the air, while Sweet Pea lowered his knife.

Adria, however, froze. She never in a million years imagined herself in this position, even with her father’s profession. She always had a sicario or two with her to keep watch but even then no one who wanted to live would dare threaten Alejandro Rivera’s only daughter. Even people who had a death wish didn’t want a death as painful as what waited for them if they so much as looked at her the wrong way.

Before she could even process how to react Sweet Pea grabbed her arm and moved her behind him

“Woah, Woah” he took a step back “In front of the lady?”

Sweet Pea gave her a quick push and whispered ‘run’ before the three of them took off. They didn’t stop running until they were in the safety of Sunnyside Trailer Park.

Adria was still in shock over the whole ordeal. Fangs took the shopping bag from her and led her inside. Adria quickly walked off to the bathroom as Fangs and Sweet Pea talked to Ness in the kitchen. When the bathroom door was shut she turned on the fan and ran over to the toilet, throwing up everything in her stomach. When she finished she walked over to the sink and splashed her face with cold water. The face she saw in the mirror barely looked like her own. She looked broken, her skin red and eyes puffy.

She was quickly brought out of it by a knock on the door

“Ads? It’s me. You good?” Fangs voice came from the other side “Ness wanted me to tell you dinner’s just about ready.”

Adria slowly opened the door to face him, trying her best to look normal. Judging by the look on Fangs’ face it clearly wasn’t working.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

 

 

Thankfully Ness didn’t ask too many questions with the guys there. After dinner Adria went back to Fangs’ with both boys. The three sat in silence on the living room floor for what seemed like an eternity. Until Adria finally spoke up

“Thanks for not saying anything to Ness. I’d appreciate if we could keep it that way.”

Both Sweet Pea and Fangs nodded

“Are you okay though, Ads?” Fangs asked “You’ve been a mess since it happened.”

Adria let out a small, sad chuckle “That bad, huh?” She brought her knees up to her chest “Needless to say I never thought someone would have the balls to point a gun at me.”

“Even with your dad?” Fangs asked

“Especially with my dad. He’d have them gutted alive. Do you deal with this a lot?”

“No. Not usually.” Sweet Pea broke his silence “We have to retaliate. If we don’t we look weak.” He looked to Fangs

“You’re right. What’s the plan?” Fangs asked. Both of them were far more serious than she had ever seen them. Given the circumstances it shouldn’t be surprising and yet it still was. She felt like she was seeing a brand new side of both of them and it was fascinating to watch.

“Whatever it is I want in” Adria inched closer to be part of the conversation

“Absolutely not.” Sweet Pea snapped “You froze there. Who’s to say he won’t have it again?”

Adria sat there quietly for a moment. She didn’t have anything close to a good response. She glanced over at Fangs who silently shook his head

“He has a point, Ads. Just let us handle it.” He stood up from where he was sitting “Let me walk you back home” Adria was about to argue as it was literally 20 steps away from his door but he spoke again “I insist.”

Adria groaned and followed Fangs the short distance to her front door; he stopped abruptly and put his hands on her shoulders. Adria raised her eyebrow, waiting for him to reveal whatever was going on in his head.

“I’ll tell you everything. I swear.” Fangs removed his hands from her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, rubbing his hand up and down her back as she started to ease up a bit “If you ever need to talk about what happened tonight I’m just a few steps away.” He let go and flashed her a large smile before turning around and walking back to his trailer.

Ashe watched him disappear into the door and let out a large sigh, sitting on the front step. Once again she felt alone looking to the lit window of Fang’s trailer. She could only imagine what they were planning. She thought about calling Toni before remembering she would be at Jughead’s. Good friends didn’t interrupt quality time with the guy their friend’s trying to bang.

So Adria rest her hands behind her and looked up to the sky, for the first time in a long time able to see stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all! I have a Tumblr for this work now!
> 
> Come hang out and talk to me at southside-vixen.tumblr.com :)
> 
> Bonus points for sending me songs that remind you of Ads and Sweet Pea. I definitely have a play list that helps me write!


	6. Lock Up

Days had passed since the incident with the gun and Adria wasn’t feeling much better for it. Thankfully Sweet Pea kept his story that it was just him facing down their red headed assailant to keep Ness from finding out. Toni, however, found out quickly. Not like Adria was great about hiding anything right now. She spilled everything to her closest friend who could only give her a large hug and tell her how she wish she had been there.

Turns out Toni’s night with Jughead didn’t go well either. They didn’t solve the cipher and she got in a large fight with his uptown girlfriend. Thankfully the night of the bodega Ness just assumed she got into another argument with Sweet Pea due to the awkward dinner. She ended up telling her the guys had her drink cheap vodka that made her sick.

Fangs hadn’t told her anything about their plan for retaliation. She started to wonder if he ever intended to tell her. But, it was finally Friday and that should at least count for something. Even if she was stuck working at the Wyrm with Toni.

“So, you guys are coming to hang with Ads and I at the Wrym tonight, right?” Toni asked at lunch

“We have plans actually. Guy’s night.” Sweet Pea responded, not looking up from his food

“Guy’s night? Since when?” Toni arched an eyebrow and continued to stare Sweet Pea down

“Jealous, Topaz?” He lifted up his eyes “You have to work tonight anyway.”

Toni groaned, glancing over to Adria “Guess we won’t have anyone to show our new Coyote Ugly routine to.”

“Guess not.” Adria replied, not sounding very interested. “I’m a bar dancing pro too. You can ask any club in Phoenix.”

Sweet Pea seemed to call the girls’ bluff immediately but Fangs was intrigued

“Pea, come on man. I mean they’re probably lying but what if they’re _not_?” he pleaded, but his best friend didn’t flinch

“Guess we’ll never find out.” He shrugged “You’re stuck with us, Fogarty.”

Fangs slouched back into his chair, lamenting his defeat. Apparently that was his entire argument. Not exactly well crafted. Adria turned as Toni learned in to whisper into her ear, locking her eyes on Fangs the whole time

“We’ll have to take some staged pictures at work to show them what they missed.” Adria giggled a bit at her suggestion. That at least would be fun.

 

\------

 

Work was extra boring that night. Some of the older Serpents had gone to the town hall meeting on the northside. They Black Hood had stuck to killing northsiders but they wanted to be there to make sure nothing would push him to their side of the tracks. There were a couple men playing pool and watching sports on the TV but for the most part the White Wyrm was a snoozefest.  


Toni absentmindedly cleaned pint glasses while Adria tried to figure out how Football worked. In the end she couldn’t bring herself to care. It seemed every time she thought she understood the pulled out a new rule.

“Toni. This is awful.” Adria groaned

“I haven’t seen the Wyrm this dead on a Friday since…well…ever.” She sighed as Adria inched toward her

“So tell me how thing have been since you picked a fight with Jughead’s girlfriend?” Adria asked and if she squinted she swore she could see Toni blush for a quick second.

“Well that’s a story.” She laughed to herself “So you know the night of Jughead’s gauntlet?”

She had nearly forgot, Jughead was now an official Serpent. Odd, since she thought he already was one because of his dad. She wasn’t there that night, but she was working the night he recited the laws and took a knife from a rattlesnake.

“Well apparently a couple hours earlier his girlfriend broke up with him via _another guy_ ” she emphasized “Well he did the gauntlet. I gave him his tattoo and then he confessed that he and perfect Betty had broken up.”

Adria flashed her a huge smile “So did you?” even in a whisper the excitement was apparent in her voice.

“Ugh. No. Nothing more than a PG-13 grope sesh.” She leaned back on the counter behind her “Not even all that great if you ask me. We got Pop’s the next day and he tried to talk to me about it. I shut him down pretty hard. I’m starting to remember why I prefer women.”

Adria laughed “Some days I wish I did. Men can be the worst. Then again maybe it’s just my taste in men. One of my exes when I was 15 decided to leak the inappropriate pictures I sent him.”

“Jesus, Ads. I’m so sorry.” Toni’s amusement quickly disappeared from her face. She walked up to her friend and put her hand on her arm “What happened?” Her demeanor had completely changed, ready to be a shoulder to lean on

Adria leaned against the counter, trying to recall the events from over a year ago “It feels like a lifetime ago now. My dad found out and the guy’s lasik surgery the next week went horribly wrong. He’s blind now. Crazy coincidences, right?” she smirked

“Damn.” Toni removed her hand “I definitely wouldn’t want to fuck with you.”

“He always had my back” Adria thought about it “Even if he was horribly overbearing at times. Joy of being the only daughter.”

“Well at least you have him. My parents aren’t in the picture and it’s just me and my uncle. He doesn’t exactly like that I date girls so he locks me out of the house.”

“Are you serious?” Adria felt the anger bubble up in her chest “Do you need me to do something about him?”

“Hold up, mafiosa.” She let out a small laugh “No need to go to drastic measures. I crash where I can.”

Adria was disgusted with herself that she had no idea. Some friend she was. Toni always seemed cheerful and never talked much about her family. Then again none of the Serpent kids did. She felt overcome with anger and guilt.

“Well from now on you’re staying with me and Ness.” She asserted “I’m not taking no for an answer and neither will she.”

“You really don’t have to do that.” Toni tried to brush off the whole thing as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Toni, you’re my best friend. I know we haven’t known each other for that long but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go around not knowing where you’ll sleep tonight. We’ll talk to Ness after work.”

Toni’s face softened, accepting that there was no way Adria would accept a no. “Thanks, Ads. This means a lot.”  


 -------

 

Ness had more than happily agreed to take in Toni. After all the kinks were worked out she decided that the next morning she would head off to find Toni another bed. Although since there were only two bedrooms Adria and Toni would be sharing. Sharing a closet would be a serious issue, one they agreed to sort out after a celebratory brunch at Pop’s.

Adria and Toni enjoyed their milkshakes while waiting for Sweet Pea and Fangs to show up. Adria was excited at the prospect of having a surrogate sister. A surrogate sister who decided to spare her the extra discomfort of sitting next to Sweet Pea this time.

The guys showed up looking terrible. When they sat down it was easy to see the cuts and bruises all over their faces and arms. Sweet Pea looking the worse of the two with a huge black eye. Fangs eased himself into the booth, sliding over. Clearly trying avoid moving too much and causing more pain.

“What the hell happened on guy’s night?” Toni asked “Didn’t realize you two fell so far into the toxic masculinity category.” The disappointment was clear in her voice.

“We went last night to get revenge on that northsider that waved his gun around at us. We weren’t expecting his group of football lackeys to be there.” Fangs groaned “We fought on the bridge before his girlfriend shot off a gun. Then we all got dragged in by the cops.”

“Of course they all got off scot free.” Sweet Pea was seething, keeping his eyes stuck on his menu. It was quiet while the group waited for their food and Adria couldn’t stop herself from stealing glances at Sweet Pea. The whole situation was far from subtle. For a while she got away with it as his face was glued to his phone. But luck can only last for so long.

“Got a problem, Princess?” Sweet Pea glanced up from his phone to catch her looking his way. She mentally cursed herself for being such an idiot.

“Just admiring the shiner you’ve got. It’s a good look for you.” She flashed him a smile “Just wish I was the one who gave it to you.”  


To her surprise, Sweet Pea flashed her a smirk instead of jabbing a knife into her chest “Any time, Princess. Only if I can give you one to match.” If Adria were focused on anything other than their conversation she would have noticed Fangs groaning and Toni covering her face in her hands.

“The big, tough guy is itching to punch me in the face huh?” she leaned over the table ever so slightly “Come on. Do it.”

“Alright that’s enough.” Toni interjected, softly pushing Adria so her back was against the seat “We’re here to celebrate my new living situation. Not listen to your weird S&M dirty talk.”

The only thing anyone had to do to get Sweet Pea and Adria to stop egging each other on was imply that they were flirting. It was highly effective as the two would immediately stop and pretend the other didn’t exist.

The rest of the meal was fairly uneventful. Not like it was a bad thing. Before long Toni and Adria were back at their home, bickering about what to do about their limited closet space. Ness had managed to get a new bed, making the tiny room even smaller and some totes to store clothes under the bed. When all was said and done most of the clothes Adria brought were in plastic bins to be put down into the basement. Many of the dry clean only items would never be able to get rid of the musty smell. She sulked silently.

 

 -------

 

The next 2 weeks started out great. Dinners as a family were even livelier with Toni around and the space somehow seemed warmer. However, the honeymoon period didn’t last long. Both Toni and Adria were morning shower people and the first time Adria went for her morning run and Toni was in the bathroom for what seemed like an hour, her rose colored glasses cracked. She could now see why people complained about siblings. Having your best friend over for a sleep over was great. Having your best friend constantly up your ass due to lack of space was less than desirable.

The next day at school was already starting off to be terrible. Adria went for her morning run to find Toni hogging the shower. She managed to clean herself off with makeup remover wipes but still felt disgusting. She pulled on one of her aunt’s old Serpent t-shirts and leather jacket, fixing her ponytail to hide the damage the sweat had done. She felt like she could land the starring role of swamp monster in some new film.

She resented Toni this morning for her perfect hair and clean skin as they walked into school together. She made a mental note to talk to her after school about a schedule for the bathroom in the morning. Adria was glued to her phone all of first period and second period she had an exam. Thankfully no one commented on her grime. Maybe that meant no one noticed.

After class she took a trip to her locker to check out the mirror inside. Her skin looked dull and her hair had some extra shine to it but overall the damage wasn’t terrible. Maybe she wasn’t as disgusting as she felt.

“You look fine. We’ll sort out the shower issue after school if you want” Toni leaned against the locker next to her, almost as if she read her mind.

“Thanks” Adria smiled “I just feel like I rolled around in grease. I can’t wait to get today over with.”

Toni was no longer paying attention to what she was saying, her eyes focused down the hallway “What’s Jughead’s northsider friend doing here?” Adria looked over and sure enough the red headed kid at the bodega was dragging Jughead through the halls with him

“Toni!” Jughead managed to shout before the doors to the school burst open. Adria and Toni both turned to see a whole herd of cops led by the mayor pushing through the crowd. “Toni, Run!” he shouted again, his friend dragging him out another exit

Toni and Adria looked at each other, horror apparent on both of their faces. Adria looked back again, noticing Fangs being pushed against the locker, his wrists being crammed into cuffs. Toni pulled Adria through the crowd. It wasn’t long before a pair of female officers noticed Toni’s jacket and chased after them.

Adria was grabbed first. She was yanked back by her shoulders with a small yelp. Her hand slipped free from Toni’s as she was slammed, face first, into one of the lockers.

“What the hell is this? Do you even know who I am?” She yelled over the commotion. She ached as they tightened the hand cuffs around her wrists, still keeping her forced into place.

“Don’t say anything.” Sweet pea yelled back to her. Adria finally noticed that he was slammed against the locker not even 5 feet away from her, his eyes locking with hers. “Don’t say anything until you have a lawyer.”

Adria was struggling to hold back tears. Never in her life had she been treated in such a way. She was led out behind a group of other Serpents, noticing that Toni didn’t manage to get away either. Her thoughts were frantic, what would she tell Ness? She wasn’t even sure about why they were all being dragged in.

 

 ------

 

She sat in a crammed holding cell waiting for her turn for her phone call. There were only two holding cells at the sheriff’s office. One went for holding all the male Serpents, and the other for all the female members.  She heard from the whispers around the cell that they were all brought in on some allegations that the Serpents were dealing drugs. Maybe that was true, but she knew for a fact her friends weren’t.

Adria sat in silence on the floor with Toni as there was no more bench space left. It must have been hours before they allowed her to make her phone call. She knew exactly who to call to light the whole area on fire

“Hola, Tio Miguel.” She said quietly into the phone. “The police dragged me in for no reason, I’m stuck at the sheriff’s office in Riverdale. Can you call one of my dad’s lawyers?”

“You’re _where_?” She could feel the anger seeping through the phone “There’s no time to call your father’s lawyers. One of my lawyers is in New York with the jet for a…business meeting. I’ll send him over right away. We’ll get you out soon. No one fucks with mi sobrina.”

She didn’t have time to respond before the line went dead and she was ushered back into her cell. She sat down next to Toni, who seemed extra concerned for her.

“Did you call Ness?” she whispered

“No. I called my uncle Miguel. He’s sending his lawyer in New York in the jet, hopefully he’ll be here soon.” She grabbed Toni’s hand and gripped it tight “I’ll get both of us out. I swear.”

The next couple hours were silent in the cells as they brought some of the Serpents in for questioning. Some weren’t using a lawyer but there was talk about most of them using someone called a ‘snake charmer’

Finally Miguel’s lawyer showed up. She had never met this one before but it was clear who he was when he walked into the door. He carried himself with confidence with his designer suit and leather briefcase.

“My name is Attorney Adrian Challon and it’s my understanding that you’re holding my client on ridiculous charges.” He sighed, glancing around. It was clear by his attitude that he thought this place beneath him.

“Who’s your client?” The woman at the desk asked

“Adrianna Rivera. I’d like to speak to someone as soon as physically possible about her case. I’m missing a very important meeting. Now if you don’t mind I’d like a room to speak to my client in the meantime.”

The woman rolled her eyes and she released Adria from holding and ushered her into a side office with her lawyer, shutting the door behind her.

“Adrianna, let’s get down to business. Tell me everything.” He sat down at the desk and removed a notepad from his briefcase. She proceeded to tell him about the worst day at school she’s had yet.

 

\-------

 

Adria’s lawyer talked circles around the sheriff. Throwing out every accusation her threw at her as bias based on what she was wearing. Definitely not wrong. She walked out of questioning a free woman but that wasn’t enough.

“You can get my friends out too, right? Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea?” she looked up at the man who was stone faced.

“I’m here for you and only you. Now let’s go so I can get back to my actual job.” He grabbed her arm and escorted her out of the station. She begged and pleaded for her friends but it feel on deaf ears. The entire ride back home the man was silent. He saw her to the door, handed her off to Ness, and immediately left. Arrogant douchebag.

“Adria!” Ness wrapped her in a huge hug “I heard you kids got dragged in to the station but you didn’t call” she pulled away and looked her in the eye “Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Adria shook her head and walked in the door, Ness behind her. “I called my uncle Miguel. He sent his hot shot asshole lawyer to get me out but he wouldn’t touch Toni, Fangs, or Sweet Pea.” She felt useless at best and like a traitor at worst. She had no idea how to help any of them.

Ness let out a long, heavy sigh “Fuck me…I’m gonna make a quick phone call but I can fix this.” She disappeared into her room and shut the door. Adria could only here muffles from the door but even then Ness sounded anxious. After a while she emerged from her room with a frown on her face.

“I know you just got out of jail lite, but there’s something I need you to help me with.” Ness opened up the closet door leading to the basement “We need to have everything ready to go by the time your friends are released.”

“Ness, what’s going on?” Adria pleaded

“I called in a favor to Penny Peabody, the snake charmer. Offered her something free of charge in exchange for the release of your friends. Shouldn’t be hard for her since the charges are bullshit anyway but her price is steep.”

Adria nodded and followed Ness through a crawl space. It was maybe 3 feet before it opened up into a storage space with another door behind it. Behind that door was something Adria never even dreamed of. The space was large and brightly lit, tables were covered in large green plants. Marijuana plants.

“What’s all this?” Adria asked, in shock. Ness knew exactly what business her father was actually in and made no attempt to hide her disdain for it. Yet, her she was with a basement full of weed.

“Income for the Serpents and supplemental income for the Wyrm.” She replied, coolly. “We need to get the bud picked off the plant. She can dry it herself, it’s not part of the deal and therefore not my problem. Needless to say, Adria. You tell no one about this”

Adria could do nothing but nod and follow her aunt’s orders. She would call her out on being a hypocrite when her friends were out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all! I have a Tumblr for this work now!
> 
> Come hang out and talk to me at southside-vixen.tumblr.com :)
> 
> Bonus points for sending me songs that remind you of Ads and Sweet Pea. I definitely have a play list that helps me write!


	7. Tequila, Hold the Worm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! Hopefully this being a little bit longer than normal makes up for it!

Ness made the trade off for the Serpent kids that night, it seemed the snake charmer made good on her promise. However, just as soon as her friends arrived they all left with Ness for a Serpent Summit. Since Adria wasn’t a Serpent, and she wasn’t working, she therefore wasn’t invited.

The minutes ticked by like hours as she waited for Ness and Toni to get back. First she tried watching TV, then reading a magazine, then in an act of desperation doing sit ups. Nothing helped. It was after midnight by the time Ness and Toni got back. Ness collapsed on the couch as Toni went and took a shower. Adria stared at her aunt waiting for some sort of news.

“Yes, Adrianna?” Ness rubbed her temples, sinking further into the cushions.

“Are you not going to tell me what happened?” She sat expectantly, hating being left out of the loop. Ness didn’t have an issue telling her issues with the gang before so it seemed odd that she would start now.

“Ask Toni. I’ve had enough Serpent business for the night.” She sighed again “I’m sorry Adria, I just need to sleep.” Ness left for her room leaving Adria standing in the living room, waiting for Toni. Clearly something had gone on if Ness was already this tired.

When Toni stepped out of the bathroom Adria was already buzzing around her, nosy as ever, prodding for information about the meeting she missed out on.

“Will you let me put clothes on first?” Toni groaned, going through the dresser for a shirt and shorts. “You have no chill.”

“I get that a lot.” Adria replied, taking a seat on her bed. She impatiently waited as Toni got dressed before she stared expectantly again “Toni, come on this is killing me.”

“Christ, Ads. It’s not as exciting as you want to think.” Toni grabbed a brush to run through her hair, not bothering to look in Adria’s direction “Jughead went with Tall Boy to try to deal with the Ghoulie issue. Jughead decided on a car race next weekend.”

“Jughead decided to deal with the Ghoulies a la Fast and Furious street race? And you tell me nothing exciting happened?” Adria started intently at her foster sister/ friend “What is exciting to you?”

Toni didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to think of would actually excite her after all the shit the Serpents put her through “Winning the lottery.” She shrugged.

 

\-------------------------

 

The days counted down until the big race as Jughead kept disappearing to his ex-girlfriend to work on the race car. Toni made a comment before about how Betty didn’t seem the mechanic type, not like Adria would know as she never formally met her. School had quieted down after the raid, although it was clear both the Serpents and the Ghoulies were on edge.

The morning of the race Adria was destroying her closet trying to find something to wear. What does one wear to a street race? She scoured the internet trying to find anything helpful before finally consulting Toni. Who was equally not helpful.

“Just wear what you usually do” She replied

 

 

It didn’t matter what Adria wore because she was told to tend the bar while every other Serpent attended the race.

“This is torture.” Adria murmured to herself, picking up another glass to clean. Sure enough there wasn’t a soul in the bar. Most of the day she sat on her phone, waiting to see if someone would post something on social media. Her FOMO kicking in hard.

The hours passed by as she passed her time doing nothing at all. She stared at the windows waiting for a motorcycle to pull up. At this rate she was so bored she would have welcomed actual customers.

Sweet Pea was the first to pull in with Toni on the back of his bike. She could see him angrily toss his helmet on the back while Toni looked like she was trying to calm him down. Adria wasn’t necessarily excited about the first person she saw being the angriest person she knew, but at least she wouldn’t be bored anymore.

“You don’t know that!” Sweet Pea ripped the door open, causing the bell on top to nearly go flying as Toni hurried in behind “He could have known the whole time which is why the sheriff got Malachai and not him.”

Sweet Pea pulled up a stool at the bar while Toni went behind it to start her shift. Just in time as the parking lot was quickly filling up with a sea of leather jackets.

“Sounds like you guys had a good time” Adria smiled and rested her elbows on the bar “Care to fill me in?”

“Jughead put us in bed with the pigs. The whole race was a sham, the sheriff was waiting at the bend to arrest the Ghoulie leader.” Pea grumbled angrily

“Sweet Pea doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Sure, Malachai got arrested but Jughead swears he didn’t know about it. His friend Archie owned up to it and if Jughead said he isn’t involved I’m inclined to believe him.” Toni argued

“You’re just backing him up because you want to fuck him” Sweet Pea didn’t bother to make eye contact but Toni at this point was fuming. Adria knew that Toni gave up on Jughead the moment she found out he wasn’t over his ex but she didn’t think she told Sweet Pea or Fangs about it.

“Just because I spend time with him” Toni started to raise her voice causing the Serpents who had just entered to stop what they were doing entirely “When the rest of you can’t be bothered does _not_ mean I’m crawling into bed with him. He’s honest and if this were his plan he would have said something”

She slammed down the drink one on of the older Serpents ordered and collected a handful of bills to put in the till. The whole bar was silent for a minute, quite the feat for a full house. Soon enough the bar sprung back to life, trying to ignore Toni’s outburst. Sweet Pea left the bar to go find Fangs at the pool table and Toni joined Adria in hastily making drinks for the crowd.

“You good?” Adria asked when things settled down

“Yeah I’m fine. I just wish he’d think before he opens his stupid mouth” Toni eyed Sweet Pea from across the bar, a frown still apparent on her face. It wasn’t likely that she would let this one go any time soon.

“That would be terrifying” Adria laughed “At first it bothered me but now I think it’s kind of nice. I like knowing where I stand with people. Better to know that I’m not liked than have someone go behind my back.” Adria shrugged. Sure she would rather he stop giving her so much shit but at least he didn’t smile to her face and laugh at her behind her back. Unless he did. But he really didn’t seem the type.

“Is that a compliment I hear?” Toni raised an eyebrow, her frown curling upward at the corner of her mouth

“Absolutely not. Fuck that guy” Adria smiled back at her

“You wish.” Toni’s smirk turned into a full grin as Adria punched her in the arm causing her to flinch and rub the spot. “I deserved that.” The two girls both shared a bit of laughter and all was right with the world.

 

 A few hours later the bar managed to calm down a bit and half the patrons left as they had other things to do on their weekend. Adria watched as Fangs and Sweet Pea finish up another game of pool while Toni dried glasses.

“I’ve got winner.” Adria called out across the room. It had been a while since she last played, she wondered if she would still be able to keep up. Both boys nodded at her request and returned to their concentrating, only pausing to give each other grief between shots.

Soon enough Sweet Pea came out on top, giving Fangs a friendly punch in the shoulder as the taunted him about how he won 3-1. Adria popped up from her bar stool and grabbed the pool stick from Fangs’ hand.

“Good luck” He told her “He’s on a lucky streak, it’s the only way to explain it.”

“Lucky streak?” Sweet Pea laughed as he chalked the stick “Fangs just doesn’t want to admit that I’m the better man.”

Adria shot Fangs a smile before looking back at Sweet Pea “Well then. May the best _wo_ man win.” She gave him a wink.

The game started out well enough, Adria broke and ended up with stripes. Managing to get two balls in her first turn. She and Sweet Pea kept fairly even and the number of colored balls were diminishing quickly. It seemed that lucky for her playing pool was like riding a bike. Even though it was months since her last game she picked it back up quickly. Although if she were playing her father the game would have been long over. He had years of experience and skill on her.

Finally the game had dwindled down one stipe, one solid, and the eight ball. Both Fangs and Toni were watching intently, quietly placing bets on who they thought would win.

  
“Let’s make this interesting.” Adria said, propping the stick up beside her, the stick almost as tall as she was. “If I win you have to bus the tables in nothing but your underwear and an apron.”

Sweet Pea raised his eyebrow “Trying to get me to strip, Princess? Deal. What’s in it for me if I win?”

“I want to see you humiliated for talking all that good shit about winning” she smiled sweetly “Name your terms.”

“Alright. Same. If I win you have to bartend in an apron and underwear. I also expect VIP service.”

Adria considered the terms and accepted. She had no intention of losing, no matter what the cost. She could hear Fangs and Toni as well as some of the other Serpents wooping in the background. Adria took a deep breath as she lined up her next shot. It wasn’t an easy shot, but it was doable. She muttered a small prayer to herself and knocked her last ball toward the side pocket.

The seconds crept by as the ball moved toward the pocket, only to be knocked out of the way by the very corner of it.

“¡No Mames!” Adria yelled involuntarily. Sweet Pea immediately laughed

“So do you want to start stripping now or do you want to watch me sink these two first?” He immediately lined up his shot and sunk his last solid ball in. All that was left was the eight ball, but the game wasn’t over just yet.

“Call it.” Adria demanded

“Eight ball, corner pocket.” He tapped the pocket with his stick before chalking up one last time. Just then Adria had an idea. A brilliant one at that.

She waited until he was lining up his shot before groaning loudly trying to get his attention while she unclipped her bra from underneath her shirt. Using her feminine magic she managed to wiggle her arms out from the straps and remove it while never taking her shirt off.

She casually shoved it in her back pocket while rolling her shoulders a bit “Much better. That was just so uncomfortable” She was milking this stunt for all it was worth as it was her final shot at a distraction.

Sweet Pea’s mouth dropped open ever so slightly as he took the shot. Once the cue ball was rolling he realized it was too late. He took his eyes off Adria to see the cue ball spin sideways into the side pocket. Adria was doing her best to suppress a laugh, but Toni and Fangs were already in hysterics.

“Oof.” She smiled “A scratch on the last shot? Automatic loss.” Toni threw Adria an apron which she in turn handed to Sweet Pea “Better get stripping.”

“You fucking cheated!” he yelled “You distracted me on my last shot!”

“I did no such thing. It’s not my fault you were watching me, the straps were digging into my arms.” She made a show of rubbing her shoulders

“Fangs! Help me out here”

“Dude, not her fault you’re distracted by boobs.” He shrugged “It’s not like she was waving her hand in front of your face.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Pea. Those tables aren’t going to bus themselves.” Toni added, smiling from the bar.

“Fucking. Fine. I’ll honor the deal.” He slid his jacket off onto the chair behind him and began unbuttoning his shirt “But everyone here knows you cheated. They’re all just enjoying this at my expense.” He made the last bit a little louder.

Adria sat herself on a barstool next to Fangs, high fiving as they watching Sweet Pea strip down to his boxers and tie an apron around his hips.

“Hope you’re enjoying the view, Princess.” Sweet Pea taunted as he began to wipe down tables “As you had to cheat to get it.”

“Someone really doesn’t like losing.” She muttered to Fangs, both laughing as he made his way around the bar, cleaning all the tables. Some over the Serpents even going as far as sticking dollar bills into the waist band of his boxers. It seemed like with this as entertainment just about everyone forgot about the events of the race. If even for a moment.

 

\----------------------- 

 

A few days after the race things were already calming down. Lucky for Sweet Pea everyone finally stopped teasing him about his strip tease at the Wyrm. Although a good portion of them had pictures saved on their phone for blackmail.

News was circulating that the leader of the Serpents, FP, was getting out of prison that weekend and that Jughead and his ex-turned not ex-girlfriend were throwing a retirement party at the Wyrm.

“I can’t believe the first time I’ll meet FP will be the day he retires” Adria said, poking at her salad at lunch “Who do you think will take over?”

“Hopefully not Tall Boy. He’s been awful since FP was put away.” Toni scrolled through her phone, looking at different photographers’ work on instragram. “I’m just going for Sweet Pea and Fangs to get drunk enough to sing some lovey dovey duet together.”

Right. Toni mentioned Uptown Betty even rented a karaoke machine which seemed a bit out of place at a biker bar in her opinion. Then again what did she know.

Sweet Pea slung his arm around Fangs “You’re just jealous of our love, Topaz.” He and Fangs gazed longingly into each other’s eyes before the both of them broke away laughing

“Little known fact, Ads. Pea and I are kings of karaoke.” Fangs told her “Are you going to sing something?”

“Get me drunk enough and I do a lot of things I don’t expect to be doing.” She replied

“Point taken. We’ll make sure you’re taken care of then” He gave her a wink

 

And sure enough they did.

FP hadn’t even arrived yet and Adria was already drunk. Fangs and Toni had been indulging her with group tequila shots while Sweet Pea opted to just stick to beer.

“Did you see Alice Cooper?” Toni asked the group “She may be Serpent enemy number one but she looks _hot._ ”

“Oooh” Fangs slurred “Looks like Toni is into older women” they all laughed as Toni rolled her eyes

“Listen. I’m just being honest.” She raised her glass as she took another shot. The other two followed. She wasn’t exactly wrong. She had never seen Betty’s mom before but she was definitely pretty. Adria leaned up against the bar and looked at around the crowd. Sweet Pea was off in a corner being hit on by two of the younger Serpents from school. Fangs disappeared somewhere when she wasn’t paying attention and Toni was eyeing Jughead with Betty.

“Everything okay?” Adria leaned over and asked into her ear

“Yeah.” She nodded “It’s just weird seeing them together. I would have imagined him with a goth girl.” Adria nodded as well. She didn’t know much about Betty aside from what Toni told her. Just looking at them they looked like something out of Grease. Like Danny Zuko standing with Sandy.

Fangs reappeared not too long after to pull Adria away “I signed Pea and I up for Time of My Life and now it’s your turn to pick something.”

She leafed through the giant book of different karaoke songs, looking for anything Spanish.

“The only latino song you have is Despacito? With Justin Bieber?” She groaned after searching the book at least twice. “Whatever. I’ll make it work. Fangs I need more to drink if I’m going to do this.”

Fangs, who didn’t need any other excuse to get his friend wasted was on it “I can go all night with these shots.”

 

An hour or so later Adria watched from the back of the bar, laughing while Sweet Pea and Fangs crooned at each other with microphones in their hands. They were definitely entertaining up on stage. Overdramatically singing each line of their chosen duet. Before long their song ended and the deejay announced that Adria was up next.

She weaved through the crowd, occasionally using someone to keep herself going in a semi-straight line. She needed every ounce of her drunken confidence to push herself up on stage. She climbed the stairs and took a microphone from Fangs as he and Sweet Pea situated themselves at the front of the crowd, Toni soon joining them.

“Ahem. Toni Topaz this one’s for you.” She winked at her and blew her a small kiss before the music began. The lyrics for the remix came onto the screen, and she quickly ignored every single one in favor of the original.

“Sí, sabes que ya llevo un rato mirándote. Tengo que bailar contigo hoy” She was pitchy, and slurring but she would make this a performance to remember. She kept singing as Fangs was burst out laughing. She was glad at least one of them spoke Spanish to know how completely ridiculous she was being. It wasn’t long before he pulled out his phone and handed it to Toni who was then laughing and shaking her head. He must have given her the translation.

After she finished she took a bow and handed back the microphone, falling in with her friends. Toni was still laughing as she pushed Adria in the shoulder, nearly causing her to stumble and fall over even though there was hardly any force behind it.

“Pervert.” She smiled at her friend

“That was great, Ads” Fangs laughed as well. Sweet Pea, although he didn’t say anything, just smiled and shook his head. Soon enough Toni disappeared to help behind the bar and Fangs had moved across the room to flirt with some girl.

The next duo up for karaoke was all too familiar. Adria didn’t recognize the girl, but the red head-Archie- she recognized immediately as the one who chased them off with a gun at the bodega. Adria immediately looked up at Sweet Pea who stared at the boy instead of doing anything. She was thankful they were tucked at the back of the room behind a crowd.

The two weren’t bad signers by any means but their performance was beyond awkward. Not only was their song depressing and not fit for the mood at all, but soon the brunette girl ran off. Archie quickly dropped his mic and ran out the door after her. The crowd was only able to boo for a moment before Jughead’s girlfriend Betty took the stage and picked up where they left off.

‘Perfect song for her. Boring.’ Adria thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. She could barely see the stage behind a sea of taller Serpents but she immediately saw Betty move to unbutton her top. Adria looked around in disbelief as she threw it off to the side and moved to her skirt. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the stage so clearly she wasn’t hallucinating the situation.

When she looked back at the stage Betty was in black lingerie, trying to look sexy against the pole when she clearly had no experience.

To her surprise she heard Sweet Pea whistle from next to her. She looked up at him in shock as his face was covered in a smirk

“Hey!” She yelled at him “That’s Jughead’s girlfriend, you pervert. Cover your eyes!”

He tilted his head “What are you going to do? Make me? You can’t even reach.”

Adria’s eyes filled with drunken determination. She looked around and noticed a bar height chair behind them which she pulled up next to Sweet Pea and climbed on. Now being a head or so taller than him she leaned over to try to cover his eyes as he attempted to swat her away.

In an event everyone around them saw coming, drunk Adria lost her balance and fell off the chair. Falling right into Sweet Pea. She let out a small shriek as he took as he took a couple steps back to steady himself.

“That’s it. I’m taking you home.” He groaned, keeping his arms around her shoulders to make sure she was steady

“What? No! I’m having _fun_.” Adria protested, trying to wiggle free and failing miserably.

“I promised Fangs I would babysit you while he went off with some girl. You’re drunk. We’re taking you home.”

“I don’t need a babysitter!” She shouted at him

“I didn’t want to have to do this.” He shrugged. He picked her up with ease and slung her over his shoulder, causing her to yell again. She pounded against his back trying to get him to let her go, not thinking that she’d most likely fall on her face if he did.

The crowd cleared around them, not wanting to be hit with a rogue fist to the face as the two exited the bar. Outside, Sweet Pea set her down as they reached his bike and handed her a helmet.

“Hop on.” Adria rolled her eyes as she snatched the helmet from his hand and jumped on behind him. She held onto his waist as tight as she possibly could, determined to make him uncomfortable. Her own small protest from being dragged from the party.

 

 ------------------------------

 

When they reached her trailer, Sweet Pea walked her inside and sat on the couch. Adria stared down at him, confusion running through her brain.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” She asked, still standing across the room

“I’m here to make sure you don’t die in your sleep.”

“I’m not even tired. It’s only midnight. Go home Sweet Pea, I’m just going to watch TV.”

“I promised Fangs. Who promised Toni. I’m not leaving so get used to it.”

Adria groaned as she threw herself onto the couch next to him. Staring him down while he refused to remove his eyes from the TV. The two sat in silence, the sound of infomercials and old cartoons filling the room.

“Why won’t you look at me?” She asked, breaking the long silence

“Because I’m watching TV.” Sweet Pea replied simply

“Bullshit you are. Without looking at the guide tell me what this episode is about.” In between infomercials had been shitty re-runs of family guy. The current episode being something about the main guy making his house its own country.

“Something about how much he hates his daughter.” He pulled off the top of his head

“Wrong!” She made a buzzer noise at him “I knew you weren’t paying attention.”

“Like you are? You’ve been staring at me since I sat down.” He still hadn’t bothered to look at her, keeping his eyes glued to the TV.

“Am I bothering you?” She goaded “How about…Now?” Adria positioned herself from sitting next to him to straddling his lap. She continued to stare at him, trying to egg out a reaction only to have him look avert his eyes to the window.

“Get off.” He murmured, still refusing to look her in the eye “You’re annoying.”

“Not until you look at me.” She insisted “Look at me and I’ll leave you alone.”

“Fuck… _fine_.” He begrudgingly brought his eyes to hers, for once having to look up instead of down. “Are you happy now?”

Adria blinked and moved back, giving him more room. She looked up for a moment in thought before bringing her eyes back down to his “No.” her voice sounded jovial before but now it seemed to lose its light. She gently pushed a strand of his hair behind his ear and stood up. “I guess I’m not.”

Sweet Pea sat confused by the sudden turn of events, he expected her to keep tormenting him as a form of amusement until someone came and relived him of babysitting duty. But she just…stopped. He watched as she straightened herself out and pulled her hair into a ponytail. It was like a switch flipped and she was sober, serious.  

“Good Night, Sweet Pea.” Was all she said as the door to her room shut behind her. Sweet Pea didn’t hear anything else come from the room until he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all! I have a Tumblr for this work now!
> 
> Come hang out and talk to me at southside-vixen.tumblr.com :)
> 
> Bonus points for sending me songs that remind you of Ads and Sweet Pea. I definitely have a play list that helps me write!


	8. In Your Dreams

The next morning Adria was still wracking her brain trying to figure out what went wrong last night. Tormenting Sweet Pea had always been fun, and easy for that matter. He would get on her nerves and she would return the favor twice over. But last night was different and she couldn’t quite figure out why. Toni hadn’t brought up her exit last night which led her to believe Sweet Pea didn’t say anything about it either.

Then again, why would he?

“You doing okay over there?” Toni asked, her head propped up on her arm. She looked like she was fighting off a hangover, not unlike Adria “You’ve been making faces at the ceiling for a half hour.”

“I’m fine.” She replied, not taking her eyes off the spackled ceiling. She couldn’t figure out why anyone would use spackle. The texture just made the ceiling look pointy and off. “I think.”

“Do you…want to talk about it?” Toni asked, tentatively. This was the first time she’d seen Adria so off. Ideas flew through her head. She watched Sweet Pea exit the bar with Adria over his shoulder. Maybe something happened when he brought her home.

“Not really.” Adria didn’t quite know what was wrong herself. Only that something felt fundamentally wrong. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

The following week went by the same as usual. Adria was back to herself minus the nagging part in the back of her brain trying to figure out what the issue was. It was Wednesday when the announcement happened. They were closing Southside High down for good.

The reception to the announcement was mixed. Half the students would be going to Riverdale High and the other half would be going to other schools in the district depending on location. Sunnyside Trailer Park was in the area headed to Riverdale. Surprisingly enough Sweet Pea and Fangs were ecstatic, Toni was fairly excited as well. New books, new classrooms, actual working computers. All perks of the new school. Although Adria enjoyed being able to underachieve she was looking forward to having bathroom stalls with doors on them.

Adria walked out the front doors of Southside High, bidding a mental farewell to her makeshift home after everything fell apart. Toni sat on the front steps with Jughead, the two lucky assholes had a free last period.

“Oh hey, Ads.” Toni smiled “I was just reading Jughead’s new work. He wrote it on his new typewriter that Betty got him” she flashed Jughead a look before looking back at her friend

“I said no comment.” Jughead sighed, letting out a small chuckle “How have you been Adria? It’s been a while.” It had. She had seen Jughead around but he seemed preoccupied and they hadn’t really talked since the library.

“Good and bad. Kind of sad this place is closing down since it was starting to feel like home, but then again clean bathrooms so who am I to complain?”

“What, hold up. What?” Toni looked shocked, it was entirely possible they didn’t hear the announcement since they were outside for last period.

“Woo!” Adria wasn’t able to say anything before Sweet Pea and Fangs burst through the door with a group of Serpent boys behind them “Say goodbye to this hellhole!” Sweet Pea laughed

“Where are we going to go then?” Jughead looked confused, he had been at Southside even less time than she had so it had to be more jarring for him

“Riverdale High.” Sweet Pea explained “Along with Topaz, Rivera, and pretty much everyone else at Sunnyside. Think of all those Northside heads we’ll get to knock” He and Fangs started throwing mock punches at each other and Adria couldn’t help from roll her eyes. Toni seemed to have the same sentiment.

Jughead however seemed more than shocked. Like this was the last thing he could have wanted. Odd since she could have sworn Toni told her that he transferred from Riverdale. He could just fall back into place.

Toni opted to continue hanging out with Jughead to help him read through whatever thing he was writing this time. Adria rode home with Fangs and bid each other goodbye at their front doors. Not like that would stop either of them from bothering the other later if they felt like it.

“Ness?” She shouted to no response. She checked out the window again and sure enough her car was in the driveway. She searched the few rooms that the trailer contained and found nothing. Adria took a deep breath and braved the descent down to the basement, spider webs and all, to find Ness and FP.

“Adria!” She looked up from her work, startled to see her niece “You shouldn’t be down here. If social services finds out…”

“Relax, Ness. I’m not a narc” she scoffed “Just here to tell you the news.”

Ness looked at FP and then back to Adria “Well since you two haven’t formally met, FP this is my sister’s daughter Adria. Adria, this is FP. Leader of the Serpents.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you Adria.” FP came over and shook her hand “All good things I promise” he let out a bit of a chuckle

“Likewise” Adria smiled back “I know your son from school.” Adria turned back to Ness “Speaking of school they just announced that effective immediately everyone at Sunnyside is to be transferred to Riverdale High.”

FP let out a heavy sigh “That’s my cue to leave. I’ll need to talk to Jughead about all this, he won’t be happy. I’ll talk to you more about business later, Ness.” He turned to make his exit “It was nice meeting you Adria”

“You too”

Just like that FP disappeared out the door leaving only Ness and Adria. “How do you feel about all that?” Ness asked “I know it’s a lot of moving around in a short period of time. Riverdale high isn’t too bad of a drive. Definitely not walking distance though.”

“I’ll ride with Fangs like I usually do when I don’t walk with Toni. I’m sure Toni can get a ride with Sweet Pea.” Adria shrugged.

Ness laughed “The parents definitely won’t like all the riff raff riding in on motorcycles to corrupt their perfect children” she rolled her eyes “Just prepare yourself for some backlash. It’s not you, there’s just a lot of tension in this town between the north and south side.”

“So I’ve been told” Adria leaned up against a table “I’ve survived worse gossip about me I’m sure.”

“I’m not too worried, you’re tough as nails. Just like your aunt.”

 

\---------------------

 

The next morning Adria stared at the outfit she picked out for the first day at Riverdale High. She glanced over at Toni who was sizing herself up in the mirror, looking equally nervous.

“This is going to be terrible isn’t it?” Adria asked

“Most likely.” Toni let out a heavy sigh “I’ll be surprised if one of the guys doesn’t get himself suspended today from getting in a fight.”

Adria threw on a high waisted denim skirt, an old serpent tee that she tied at the bottom, and a pair of old motorcycle ankle boots before throwing on the worn down leather jacket Ness gave her.

“Let’s get this over with then.”

 

The ride to Riverdale High didn’t take nearly as long as she would have liked but at least she arrived with Fangs, Toni, and Sweet Pea. They met up with a few other Serpent teens in the parking lot and all walked through the doors of Riverdale for the first time together.

The day went about as well as she hoped. A few of the students set up some sort of welcome desk for locker assignments and class schedules. However it didn’t take long for the real Riverdale High to show its ugly head.

“Here’s the school spirit I so fondly remember” Jughead said from beside them. Coming down the stairs was a tall red headed girl, dressed head to toe in red followed by a brawny brunette boy and a group of cheerleaders and boys in letterman jackets.

“Reminds me of how I used to be in Phoenix.” Adria whispered to Toni

“Cheryl.” The girl leading the welcome table said, the same one from the night at Karaoke who ran off “No one invited fascist Barbie to the party.”

The red head, Cheryl, smiled back at her “Wrong, Veronica. No one invited South Side scum to our school” she then turned to face the Serpents “Listen up Raggamuffins. I will not allow Riverdale High’s above average GPA to dip because of classrooms overcrowded with underachievers.”

Adria could feel the rage coming off of Toni, it was starting to seem like she would be the first to start a fight and not any of the guys. But Adria would be right behind her. She had never been in a fight before but that wouldn’t stop her from backing up her best friend.

“Why don’t you come over here and say that to my face.” Toni stepped forward to close this distance between her and Cheryl. Adria fell right in line beside her.

“Happily, Queen of the Buskers.” Cheryl closed some of the distance herself

“Okay everyone. “ The red head known as Archie stepped in between the two “Let’s just put our Northside-Southside differences aside.”

“Did you forget” The brawny brunette standing next to Cheryl stepped in “That these greasers were at your door ready to kick your ass?”

“We’re happy to finish what we started” Sweet Pea stepped in, looking for his own fight.

“We’re not here to take orders from someone who waved a gun around in our face” Adria interjected, starting to feel her anger swell up as well. It wasn’t long ago that she would have been Cheryl. A queen bee ready to step on anyone who didn’t worship the ground she walked on. It sucked being on the other side of it.

“That’s enough pomp and circumstance.” The man who she assumed was the principal stepped into the hallway “Go to class. Now.”

Soon enough everyone started dispersing, but Adria looked at Toni. Where were they supposed to go? They never even got their schedules.

 

When everyone finally figured out where they were supposed to be, they all went their separate ways to their first class. Adria was cursed with having math. Sure enough, people stared at her and the other serpent in her class. They not so quietly whispered and passed notes and she was already over it. She wasn’t sure how she would tolerate a day here let alone the rest of high school.

The minutes ticked on until they turned into hours and by the time lunch came she met up with Toni, Fangs, Jughead, and Sweet Pea in the student lounge. Thankfully there were only a few Northsiders scattered about and most of them she recognized from the registration desk that morning.

They were making casual small talk about classes and the like until the girl named Veronica appeared with a large smile on her face. One that very much looked forced.

“We haven’t formally met. I’m Veronica Lodge” She held out her hand to Toni, who shook it

“Of the Park Avenue Lodges” Jughead interjected, making himself sound hoity toity.

“Toni. Topaz.” Toni said, forcing herself to smile a little as well

“Ah like the gemstone.” She smiled again “And you are?” she held out her hand to Adria

“Adria Rivera. Of the Mexico City Riveras.” She attempted to mimic Veronicas tone as she shook her hand. Veronica’s smile faltered for a moment, while the other Northsiders around her were clearly frowning. She could feel they were slightly afraid of her now. Good. Let them be.

“Adria. I’ve heard about you from Betty.” She said.  Jughead must have told Betty about the dangerous cartel girl. “Seems we have a lot in common. My dad just got out of jail.”

Adria raised an eyebrow. She’d have to ask Jughead about that later.

“Well..” the girl beside her started “Im Josie…formerly of the Pussycats…now just Josie.” Her sadness was apparent. Although Adria wasn’t sure if the Pussycats were a band, some sports group, or even some sort of weird gang.

Then again she hung out with kids in a gang called the Serpents.

“All of you. Out here immediately” She didn’t even notice the principal come in but his voice sounded serious. And angry. The lounge filed out to the front hallway to notice a snake tag over the school seal. The Serpents looked at each other confused. It couldn’t have been any of them.

“As you can see Principal Weatherbee” The brawny brunette from earlier said “They have to tag their turf.”

“Can you be any more transparent, Reggie?” Veronica groaned, clearly annoyed with the situation as well. The boy nodded at her after a second of thought. Adria wasn’t sure if he knew what transparent even meant.

“That’s it. From this moment on there will be no gang activity.” Weatherbee was firm “All gang paraphernalia including Serpent jackets are banned.” There was some protest coming from the crowd behind her “And all tattoos are to be covered. Anyone who doesn’t comply will be suspended.”

Adria supposed it couldn’t get any worse.

 

\-----------------------

 

After school they all went to the Wyrm to try to decompress. Classes were definitely harder and the teachers actually expected something of them. The stares and blatant hostility toward them wasn’t helping either.

Toni and Jughead were arguing about the new school circumstances while Sweet Pea played arcade games. Adria didn’t catch much while she stared into her social media accounts but something about ‘discrimination’ and ‘what’s next, mind control?’ She could practically hear Toni rolling her eyes.

She continued to scroll through Fangs’ snapchat which had some brief pictures of him hanging out with the girl from FP’s retirement party. It felt like soon she would just be left with Sweet Pea since Toni was hanging around Jughead more and more.

She contemplated finding her own ‘special friend’ but dismissed the thought almost immediately. No one here caught her eye. Sure there was no shortage of good looking guys at school and in the Serpents but no one sparked her interest. Maybe she was just cursed to be alone.

“Guys, I gotta go. My dad’s calling.” The strange number showed up on her phone again and her eyes immediately lit up. At least she still had one man in her life. Adria waved the group goodbye and talked to her dad on the walk home. Of course it was more bad news. The prosecution was dragging everything out to find more evidence and he still wasn’t any closer to getting out. His lawyers were working overtime and it seemed like the state was throwing everything they could at him. It was apparent they were making an example of him. They couldn’t touch any of her uncles in Mexico so they would show them what happens if they screw up on US soil.

It was completely unfair and Adria was suffering for it. The initial hope of being back home before the spring was gone. She was quickly losing hope that she would even make it back before she was 18. Although she had friends here now so surely it couldn’t be that bad. But the more she wanted to be here with her new friends the worse she felt. This wasn’t her life.

 

 ------------------------

 

Hours passed since her phone call with her dad left her with more bad news. Ness hadn’t returned home yet so she resigned herself to eating frozen potato skins and watching the home improvement network.

“That paint color _suuuuucks.”_ Adria groaned, taking a sip of whatever awful beer Ness had in the fridge. She let out a deep sigh “This is more fun with Fangs.” She flipped through a few more channels, shoving potato skins into her mouth. At least with Ness and Toni gone she didn’t have to worry about how she looked.

Her channel flipping was interrupted by a knock on the door. The knock alone was concerning enough. Ness and Toni didn’t need to knock since they both had keys. She was also pretty sure last time Fangs showed up he just walked in. Did Sunnyside have girl scouts? There was an abundance of weed downstairs. Some samoas and tagalongs would go well with the munchies.

Adria shook the crumbs off her shirt and answered the door. Unfortunately for her the person there was far too tall to be a girl scout.

“Hey. Can I come in?” Sweet Pea asked. Adria sized him up, trying to figure out his motive. She couldn’t think of any reason why he would show up without Fangs forcing him to.

“Ness and Toni aren’t here.” Adria explained

  
“We need to talk.”

Adria’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, but for some reason she let him in anyway. The pair stood awkwardly in the living room as they waited for the other to say something. Anything really. The silence was quickly driving her crazy. How many beers did she have again?

“Sweet Pea, why are you here?” Adria rubbed her temples

“FP’s party the other night. You were acting weird so I came to make sure everything was okay.”

Surprising. Very surprising.

“Yeah, I’m fine. No need to worry about me.”

He stopped for a moment and just stared at her before letting out a small sigh.

“Okay enough with the bullshit. We both know why I’m here.” Adria raised an eyebrow at him before he continued “I see the way you look at me”

She was immediately taken aback. She opened her mouth to speak but immediately shut it again. What in the hell was happening?

“I have no clue what you’re talking about. I don’t look at you any different than Fangs or Toni” She argued

Lie.

Sweet Pea let out a small chuckle and moved a few steps forward. Adria struggled to maintain the distance by moving a few steps back

“You mean all this time I haven’t been catching you staring when you think I’m not looking?”

“Let’s get one thing straight, I don’t stare. Maybe you’re delusional because you’re the one staring at me.”

Lie.

The distance continued to close and Adria felt herself up against the wall with nowhere left to go. Why did the trailer have to be so damn small?

“So you’re saying that you don’t want me right now?” He stood maybe a foot away from her at this point, the glint apparent in his eyes. Adria felt her heart rate pick up the pace to the point where it felt like it was ready to beat out of her chest.

“Not in the slightest.”

Another lie.

“How is it that you come from a family of liars and I still can’t believe a word you’re saying right now?” He moved to brush a piece of hair that fell in her face. Carefully tucking it behind her ear, letting his hand linger there. He knew exactly what he was doing and it was driving her crazy.

“That’s because-“

She was immediately cut off by his lips on hers and the flood gates broke. Adria wrapped her arms around his neck and entangled her hands in his hair. She needed to be as close as possible. His tongue grazed against her bottom lip and she immediately let him in. Why did she fight this for so long?

She felt him smile before he pulled away and looked down at her.

“I bet you wish you weren’t going to wake up now.” His smile was as confident as ever

“What?” She asked

 

\------------------

 

Adria shot up in her bed as her alarm went off. She looked over at the clock. 7 Am. She immediately collapsed back into bed and shoved the pillow over her head, letting out a small muffled scream. This couldn’t be happening.

Adrianna Luz Rivera does not catch feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all! I have a Tumblr for this work now!
> 
> Come hang out and talk to me at southside-vixen.tumblr.com :)
> 
> Bonus points for sending me songs that remind you of Ads and Sweet Pea. I definitely have a play list that helps me write!


	9. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all. So I've been having a bit of a writer's block and scrapped chapter 9 at least twice. So I've decided since this is the piece I really wanted to keep to leave it as kind of a small interlude before Chapter 9.
> 
> I know this says Chapter 9 but consider it 8.5
> 
> I'm actually working on 9 now with some haste so I should hopefully be done soon!

Adria sat with Fangs at Pop’s that morning, enjoying her French toast and strawberries. The two had recently been suspended for not wearing the Southsider’s new ‘uniform’. She might have burst out laughing and say ‘Over my dead body’ when the principal handed her the new polo shirt and khakis.

She was positive they would inform both Ness and her case worker about her suspension. Fashion was a hill she was willing to die on. She would never be caught in a polo, even her last school the uniform consisted of a blazer and skirt.

“So we’ve got the whole day now” Fangs smiled “What are we doing after breakfast?”

“Well I don’t want to go home until I have to…” Adria thought, the idea of Ness finding out about her suspension even earlier didn’t appeal to her “Movies?”

“Sounds good to me” he ate a forkful of egg “You’ve been off all morning, even before Weatherbee. Wanna talk about it?”

Adria mulled it over. Fangs was one of her closest friends, but he was also Sweet Pea’s best friend. Plus, if she didn’t admit it out loud wouldn’t it just go away? Not like that had fixed her problems in the past but maybe it would work eventually.

“I don’t know. Weird dreams is all” She tried to brush it off

“Now I’m definitely interested. Did I tell you about the time I dreamt that I was in an orgy with a bunch of donuts?” He laughed to himself “Must have been a really bad donut craving. I got one the next day and it was better than sex.”

“I…Don’t know how to respond to that” She laughed

“Well I’m sure whatever you dreamt can’t be weirder than that so you should just tell me.” He insisted, ready and waiting to hear whatever she had to say.

“Fine. But what comes out of my mouth you repeat to _no one_. I know where you live Fangs Fogarty.”

“Jesus, Ads. I get it. I tell no one. Just fucking tell me already.”

“I had a dream last night that I was making out with Sweet Pea” Adria looked down at her breakfast as she couldn’t bring herself to look Fangs in the eye

“That’s it? The sexual tension between you two is enough to choke on so I’m not surprised.”

Adria looked up at her friend who just shrugged his shoulders and ate a piece of bacon. He should be floored. Or at least pretended to be surprised

“I don’t catch feelings.” Adria crossed her arms and leaned back into her seat “The worst part is that he said that I’m a terrible liar. Do you think he knows?”

Fangs laughed “Sweet Pea? Absolutely not. When I first started hanging with the Serpents I had it bad for Sweet Pea and I was sure he knew. The dude’s oblivious. He only picks up the hint if you’re actively unbuckling his pants to fuck him.”

“That’s a relief I guess. I’m that obvious to everyone else though, huh?”

“We’ve all been waiting for you to either kill or rip each other’s clothes off. Maybe both” He gave her a wink

Adria rolled her eyes “Whatever. Let’s just go see a movie before Ness kills me.”


	10. I'll Stay

** Sweet Pea **

It was currently 10PM and Adria had already been missing for 8 hours. A group of Serpents stood around in Ness Allen’s living room as she cycled between pacing and sitting with her head in her hands.

“I haven’t heard from her since 2.” Ness took a long drag from her cigarette, completely disregarding the year she spent after quitting “She was pulled out of school to see her social worker. She sent me a text after saying she needed some time to herself and I haven’t heard from her since.”

“You should have told us sooner!” Fangs slammed his first on the arm of the couch, making a small thud.

“Quiet, boy.” FP said from across the room, his arms folded across his chest “Let her finish.”

“I know I should have called earlier!” Ness tried to keep herself together “She’s just like me at her age, I figured she’d be back eventually. Her dad _just_ died for fuck’s sake!”

Died.

It made it sound inevitable. Like he wasn’t brutally murdered in his cell by his enemies. Sweet Pea was never too close with Adria but it wasn’t like he hated her. She was just fun to antagonize. Well, maybe he hated her at first but that was all water under the bridge.

“Here’s what we’re going to do.” FP stepped into the center of the room “We’re going to split up and search the entirety of Riverdale. Adria might not be an official Serpent but she’s one of our own. Ness I’m gonna need you to stay here in case she comes back.”

Vanessa Allen nodded slowly.

“As for the rest of you, here are your assignments.” FP pointed on a map, divvying up the whole town into sections for each Serpent to search. “If you see anything or when you’re finished you report to me immediately. I expect this search to be _thorough_.”

Sweet Pea exited the trailer with Toni, Fangs, and Jughead. The silence seemed like forever before Fangs spoke up

“I can’t believe she’d do something this stupid when there’s a murderer on the loose.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at the dirt. Sweet Pea could see that he was beating himself up for this. Even though there was no way he could have prevented any of it.

“It doesn’t matter now.” Toni said “We need to find her. She’s family. No Serpent left behind.”

“No Serpent left behind” the rest of the group murmured.

“Is there anywhere she might go that no one else thought of?” Jughead asked “You guys know her best.”

The trio racked their brains trying to think of anywhere that might make sense. She wasn’t entirely familiar with Riverdale to their knowledge. They only knew of the places where they would usually be on a weeknight. Pops, the Wyrm, the quarry, or her trailer.

“We’ll find her.” Sweet Pea placed his hand on Fangs shoulder, who only gave a small nod “The town isn’t that big and the black hood doesn’t want anything to do with outsiders.” At least to his knowledge.

Their biggest concern, even if no one would say it out loud, was the remaining Ghoulies. They had seen her with the Serpents at school and after Malachai being put in jail any Serpent alone was a target.

‘Please be safe.’ Sweet Pea thought to himself.

 

 

2 hours had passed since their meeting at the Allen trailer and no one had seen Adria anywhere. Sweet Pea combed over the quarry with a fine toothed comb. Hell, there weren’t even footprints. When he texted Toni and Fangs it seemed like they had the same amount of luck.

He called FP to check in, hoping that maybe he would have good news. But there was none. Only a heavy sigh from FP and more orders to double check a different area. As much as he tried to block it out all he could remember is the look on her face when she left the classroom earlier that day. The small wink and smile she gave him and Toni as she stood up and walked out. The two just assumed she got busted for doing something stupid. That was until she didn’t come back. There was no tiny brunette girl waiting in the parking lot in her oversized leather jacket. No second body on the back of Fangs’ back during the ride home.

Sweet Pea brought his hand up to the dog tags around his neck. He knew how it was to lose someone.

 

\-----------------

 

** Adria **

Adria Rivera stumbled out of the tattoo parlor, clutching a handful of straws. It was as much as her meager paycheck at the Wyrm would buy, and at this point she was desperate for whatever she could get her hands on.

Her dad was all she had left after her mother died. As much as she hated to admit it she couldn’t remember her voice anymore. 10 years passed since she lost her to an aggressive form of cancer. She could only remember her as the frail woman she became, not the beautiful blonde from all the photos her dad kept.

Her day started off well enough. Tryout results for the River Vixens were posted and sure enough both she and Toni made it. Although she wasn’t sure if she made it on her own merit or Toni’s pull with Cheryl. She actually studied for her chemistry test and she was sure she did pretty well. Oh, and Fangs snuck out and brought them all back burgers from Pop’s.

Then it happened. Her world crashed into a burning heap over the course of a half hour. Every word her social worker spoke just made her angrier. Her father wasn’t supposed to be in jail and he sure as hell wasn’t supposed to die in there. Where was his protection?

She knew she was being selfish right now but she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing anyone. She laid underneath the overpass by Sweetwater River for hours. Staring up at nothing. Wishing that someone would call and say it was all a mistake. But the only thing she received were voicemails and texts from Ness telling her to come home.

That’s when the idea struck her. To go find some random Ghoulie to sell her jingle jangle. Something to help ease her pain. Now here she stood, staring down at the straws in her hand. She quickly checked her phone to see that it was already midnight. She slowly made her way to the Wyrm, emptying the contents of a couple straws into her mouth on the way there. She was sure with how her day went at least someone at the bar would buy her a drink.

But there was no one there. The whole bar was dark, which even for a weeknight was weird. Not like it mattered considering she had a key. Adria unlocked the door with shaking hands and flipped on the light. She glanced around at the room again before giving a small shrug and walking up to the bar.

She hoisted herself up onto the bar top and grabbed around behind the counter for the first bottle she could find. Cinnamon whiskey. Not her first choice but at this point she would drink anything. Adria flicked off the cap and chugged straight from the bottle, laying down across the bar. Soon she would be numb.

 

\-------------------

 

** Sweet Pea **

Sweet Pea punched the alley wall. This whole area was another bust. Maybe she hopped a bus back to Arizona. Maybe she was dead. Fuck if he knew. This was a new level of selfish even for her. Sweet Pea made his way back to the Wyrm. Maybe some of the other Serpents met back up there after finding her. Or at least he hoped. He was pretty sure if Ness didn’t kill her that he would.

Sure enough, there was a light on. But looking through the window he could see the bar was still empty. All except a small brunette girl laying across the bar. Sweet Pea ran to the door and ripped it open, noting that she even forgot to lock it. The girl on the bar lifted her head up to make eye contact. Ads.

“Where the hell have you been?” He yelled “Ness and FP have had the whole gang out searching for you and you’re in here getting drunk!” A wave of relief rushed over him. But in a split second the relief was replaced with anger.

“To be fair.” She slurred, propping herself up into a sitting position “The drinking is a recent development.”

Sweet Pea moved closer and looked her in the eyes. Her pupils were huge. Not only was she drunk, but she was on something as well.

“What did you take?” He demanded. “What did you take and who did you get it from?”

“None.” She reached up and tapped him on his nose “of your business” She giggled to herself before bringing the bottle back up to her lips.

Sweet Pea shook his head and grabbed the bottle from her hand. He slid it across the bar where he was sure it would be out of her reach

“We need to get you home. Ness is worried. Toni and Fangs are worried. Hell, all of the Serpents are worried.”

“I’m not going home.” She didn’t look at him “I came here to forget and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Sweet Pea remembered that feeling all too well. The need for anything to take even an ounce of the pain away. It didn’t matter that it was only a temporary fix.

“Sweet Pea?” He looked back down at her, her eyes burning into his own. The only look on her face one of desperation “Make the pain stop, please.”

She grabbed onto his jacket and pulled him down to her level before crashing her lips onto his. She tasted like cinnamon alcohol and the faintest taste of candy. Before his mind even had time to process the situation he found himself kissing her back. His arms wrapping around her and his hands entangling themselves into her hair.

The kiss was heavy and desperate. The more she took of him the more she wanted, and the more he was willing to give. He felt her hands move their way up his shirt, feeling his abs as his tongue traced her bottom lip. Everything about being with her right now was drunk and sloppy and he couldn’t bring himself to care.

But she was his _friend._ Sure they didn’t act like it but they both got the same enjoyment out of antagonizing each other. At the end of the day he considered her one of their own. This just isn’t the type of thing that _friends_ do.

He felt her move down to his belt to undo the buckle, struggling to release the mechanism with her shaking hands. That’s when it hit him. This may have felt great, but it wasn’t right.

Sweet Pea untangled himself from Adria and pulled away, leaving her staring up into his eyes. She looked like she would start crying at any moment.

“Why don’t you want me? Just distract me, _please._ ” She begged, trying to reach out to pull him back.

“I can’t.” He looked away “Fuck, Ads. I respect you and I won’t do this to you while you’re drunk and grieving.”

He pulled up a barstool and grabbed her outstretched hand, bringing it to his heart.

“I’ll stay. As long as you need me to, I’ll stay. We’ll go back to Ness when you’re ready.”

And Adria’s façade shattered before him. The tears fell from her eyes like a flood as sobs shook her body. All Sweet Pea could think to do was bring her close and hold her. She didn’t need words to know that he would be there for her.

“I’m an orphan, Pea” she managed to choke out “My family’s dead.”

He stroked her back as she continued to cry into his shoulder “You have all of us. We’re your family, Ads.”

Adria lifted her head off his shoulder and wiped the tears away from her eyes, only to have more fall after them.

“Thank you, Sweet Pea.” She smiled at him

And it was in that moment he realized. Despite the smeared mascara and puffy eyes that she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter to pair with the Interlude, but an important one nonetheless!
> 
> So we're reaching the end of what I like to consider Book 1 of this series. I do promise for everyone that's been sticking with me and tolerating my slow burn that it'll soon pay off!
> 
> (wink wink wink)


	11. Growing Pains

Over a week had passed since the night at the Wyrm. Adria left the next day with Ness on a plane to Phoenix to get her father’s estate in order. Even with the sun shining down on them the day felt grim. The rest of her family followed soon after, at least the ones who weren’t on a watch list. The most she saw of either of her uncles were their lawyers, impatiently waiting for the reading of the will.

The service was beautiful. They held it in her childhood home, the same one that now felt foreign to her. She traced her fingers along the table where they had breakfast the morning they took him away. She cried in his closet filled with his suit jackets, all which still smelled faintly of his cologne. It felt like for a short time that time had stopped around her. But sure enough, most of the family departed back to Mexico. Leaving only the key players who were summoned for the will.

“First order of business is the division of assets” Her father’s lawyer sat behind his desk with a giant folder set out in front of him. In the same room stood both of her uncle’s lawyers as well as herself and Ness. “As you all already know most assets were seized due to the investigation of Alejando Rivera. The Phoenix estate as well as the remaining assets in Mr. Rivera’s account are to go to his sole heir, Adrianna.”

Adria gave a small nod before casting her eyes back down to her lap. She wasn’t entirely surprised that he left everything to her. Out of everyone she would need it the most. That and the pieces that would go to her uncles until she came of age, like the business, had already been seized.

“The next order of business is custody of Adrianna as she is still 16 years of age.”

Adria shot up in her seat. Shit. She never even considered that being with Ness wasn’t the permanent solution now that her dad passed. Adria glanced around the room to see both lawyers stone faced. Ness, however, looked determined. It looks like she was the only one who was taken by surprise.

Her father’s lawyer flipped to a new page and readjusted his glasses. The suspense was going to give her a heart attack. He pulled a piece of paper out of the folder and skimmed it again before reading it aloud to the group.

“Custody of Adrianna Rivera shall go to Miguel Rivera. Should something happen to Miguel then custody shall be passed to Javier Rivera.”

Adria sat in shock. They were going to uproot her again even though she only just became comfortable in Riverdale. Of course her father didn’t put Ness on the list, he always hated her. Adria looked over at Ness who could only give her a small, comforting smile in return before directing her attention back to the man reading the will.

“I would like to contest the will.” Ness stood up from her chair and pulled a folder of her own out of her bag, tossing it on the table “As you can see I have written documentation from Adrianna’s case worker and her psychologist that it would be best for her to stay in Riverdale.”

“That alone isn’t enough. She’ll be better off with her family in Mexico.” Miguel’s lawyer interjected “A state assigned case worker and a low income psychologist can’t compete with what her uncle can provide for her.”

“Then I’d like to direct you to the final document in that folder. The DNA test proving that I’m her birth mother. _Surely_ the state wouldn’t want to take a girl away from her mother.” Ness turned to Miguel’s lawyer, giving him a look that could turn even the bravest man to stone. Adria sat in shock. Surely she must have heard that wrong.

“ _What_?” Adria whispered. Ness put a strong hand on her shoulder and gave her a nod. Everyone was telling her about how much of a copy of Ness she was. She just assumed that somehow her mother’s genetics rigged her to look more like her aunt.

Her father’s lawyer picked up the document and spent minutes reading it before passing it on to each of her uncle’s lawyers to review as well. None had anything to say, standing in complete silence.

“I’m fully prepared to go to court over this.” Ness asserted to the group “Until then Adria will be going home with me. Where she belongs. Come on, Adria. We’re leaving.” She ushered her out of the room with her hand behind her back.

Adria still couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even think. All she could do was stare forward at the hallway in front of her.

 

 

Adria sat with her aunt, scratch that, _birth mother_ at a table in a small Mexican restaurant. She ordered a giant plate of mole and maybe took 4 bites, most of the meal she spent moving around pieces of meat with her fork.

“I’m sorry, Adria.” Ness finally said “I never wanted to tell you that way. It was the only thing I could think of to keep them from taking you.”

Adria swirled her chip around in the salsa before taking a bite and chewing as slowly as she possibly could. The more she had food in her mouth the less she would have to talk. It had only been a couple of hours after Ness’ big reveal and Adria wasn’t any closer to coming to terms with the situation.

“Why?” She asked “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me? My dad never even told me I was adopted.” She didn’t bother to look up at Ness when she asked. She knew if she saw her right now she’d just run, and there was no one left to run to in Phoenix.

“I was 16, Adrianna.” Ness let out a heavy sigh. “I got pregnant with you at 15 and there was no way I could take care of a kid as a kid. Your grandparents weren’t going to let me regardless. Katie was having issues conceiving your grandma saw an opportunity. If I gave you to my successful, _married_ , older sister who couldn’t conceive herself then all would be right in the world.”

Ness sniffled a little “I’m not surprised your dad didn’t tell you. He never wanted anyone to know that you weren’t his. Even when your mom insisted that she tell you when you got older. They both loved you dearly. No one did this to hurt you”

Adria looked up at her aunt, noticing the tears well up in her eyes. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t feel sympathetic. She was the one they lied to. Sure they might have been hurting but she was the one who lived her entire life in the dark. Her entire heritage now a lie.

Her father raised her to love her Latino heritage. She grew up bilingual. Would spend school breaks with her papá, her tios, her primos. If she wasn’t her father’s daughter did that mean she would lose her entire extended family too?

“If you’re my birth mother then who is my birth father?” She thought of the men Ness was around. The only one she could think of was FP. Oh God. She wasn’t Jughead’s half-sister was she?

“Someone from another life. He died years ago in a motorcycle accident.” Ness picked at her food, but it was clear neither of them were actually hungry.

“So…it’s not FP?” Adria asked

“What?” Ness asked, nearly spitting out her bite “Of course not! I was 15! He was already married to Gladys.”

There was a long silence before Ness spoke again.

“Adria. I’m so sorry about all of this. I know I said I’d go to court for you but if you want to be with your dad’s family I won’t fight it. But just know I want you to know that you have a home with me in Riverdale.”

 

\------------

 

In the end Adria went back to Riverdale, although the court proceedings for custody were just beginning. However, things weren’t looking good for the Rivera side of the fight. Between them living in a different country and some of them being on government watch lists, Vanessa Allen’s few misdemeanors made her look like an upstanding citizen.

She went to school that Monday hoping that with a set routine everything would start to feel normal again. But she was stuck in Bizzarodale. Everything was the same, yet somehow wildly different at the same time. She made polite small talk with the Serpents at lunch, thankful that none of them asked her about her week in Phoenix. It was the shortest school day in history as she was dreading to go back home.

“Hey”

Adria turned around to find Sweet Pea leaning against an adjacent locker.

“I was hoping you had some time to talk.” He fiddled with the hem of his sleeve.

Adria thought about it for a second. She didn’t really want to have a conversation with him about the state she was in before she left, but she probably owed him. That and nearly everything sounded better than going home to Ness’ trailer.

“Yeah, of course.”

 

 

Adria rode on the back of Sweet Pea’s bike to Pickens Park, her nerves on edge the whole ride. She’d always opted to ride with Fangs, feeling far more comfortable with him than the other Serpent. Their friendship had been a complicated one, always leaving her unsure of where she stood.

They made their way over to a swing set in silence. Pickens Park was never really busy, with the exception of Pickens day of course. Most days there was the occasional person throwing a ball for their dog and a couple making out under a pavilion.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Adria asked, moving herself her swing with her toes.

“I just…wanted to make sure you were okay. Last week was…well…a lot. With the two of us at the Wyrm and all….”

“Listen, Sweet Pea, I’m sorry about that night.” Adria cast her eyes toward the ground “I was stupid, drunk, and on jingle jangle and I threw myself at you. You don’t have to let me down easy.”

“Who said I was letting you down easy? I thought about it a lot the week you were gone. Hell, we all thought you weren’t coming back. When Toni texted me and said that you were back with Ness…Well I don’t think I can really explain how _happy_ I was.”

Adria lifted her eyes up to meet his, looking for any sort of sign that he was bullshitting her. But there wasn’t any.

“What I’m trying to say, Ads, is that I care for you a hell of a lot more than I thought I did. I want to be there for you as…more than your friend.”

Adria was taken aback. This is definitely not how she thought this conversation would go. She was waiting for the part about how he was flattered that she tried to jump him but that he didn’t think of her in that way. How he was only there to be a friendly shoulder to cry on. She wasn’t entirely sure of how to react to this new development.

“I, um…definitely wasn’t expecting that” Adria laughed nervously “Sweet Pea, I like you and hearing that you feel the same should make me so _fucking_ happy. But…I’m just not emotionally available right now.”

It broke her heart to say it out loud. Isn’t this what she wanted just a few weeks ago when she tried to convince herself that she didn’t have feelings for him?

“You’re right.” He let out a sigh “I shouldn’t have even said anything. Of course you’re not emotionally available. Your dad just died.” She could see how much he was beating himself up inside.

“Things in Phoenix were terrible.” She confessed “Worse than you could even imagine. We had my father’s funeral which was hard enough but then they had the will reading. My uncles tried to take me to Mexico but Ness fought.”

She took a long pause before she spoke again, Sweet pea still listening intently.

“I haven’t even told Toni this. The way Ness was able to keep me was because she’s my birth mother. No one even bothered to tell me I was adopted.” She felt the tears threatening to fall from her eyes again.

Sweet Pea sat there in stunned silence, mentally checking to see if his mouth was wide open. He wasn’t sure what to say. How do you console someone who was just told their family was a lie? He felt like an idiot for implying that he wanted more from her when she was clearly in no place to provide it.

“I do want to be with you, but I’m not going to tell you to wait for me.” She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear “I still want to be your friend right now. I’m hoping things don’t have to be weird.”

“Of course not. Friends it is.” He gave her a sincere smile “But if you ever find you want more, let me know.”

“Of course” she smiled back at him “But you better be there when I do my Serpent dance. I expect a better response than what you gave Betty.” She gave him a small push

“Finally joining, huh? Welcome our big, incestuous family, Rivera.”

 

Sure enough, Sweet Pea was the loudest one in the room when she did her dance a couple weeks later. It was good to know that there were no hard feelings between them and that if anything their time spent at Pickens Park brought them closer. She even found herself texting him more than she even texted Fangs. Though neither of the two told a soul about what happened that night at the White Wyrm.

After her dance and a few drinks Adria made her way home with Toni, laughing as they linked arms and walked back to their trailer. When they arrived Toni set up her tattoo gun with some black ink and needles, carefully sterilizing everything in the area.

Even with the alcohol in her system she was extremely nervous. She’d never gotten a tattoo before but she was sure it would hurt like hell. She spent the whole week thinking about where she would want it, eventually deciding on a snake wrapped around her ankle.

“You’re gonna be fine.” Toni reassured her as she wiped her skin with soap “It just feels like a bunch of little stings. It’ll be over before you know it.”

“You better not be lying.” Adria laughed

The two were interrupted by Ness storming in, slamming the door behind her.

“You did your Serpent dance without even telling me?” She said “Christ, Adrianna. I’m trying to get full custody of you. You joining a gang under my care _really_ doesn’t give the right impression of my parenting abilities.”

Adria groaned, sharing a look of disdain with Toni before she threw her hands up. She assumed Ness would have no issues with her joining the Serpents considering she was one. But then again ever since they got back from Arizona she had really tightened down on her life.

“Well considering they agreed to give you custody even though you’re _in_ said gang I think we’ll be fine.” Adria snapped

“Do you know how much this lawyer is costing me? Why do you want to jeopardize or chances of winning this case?”

“Well, _Vanessa_.” She seethed “You may be my birth mother, but you _are not_ my mom. You can let Toni do this here where everything’s already cleaned or I can go to Sweet Pea’s trailer and get tetanus. Maybe he’ll even get me pregnant while we’re at it. After all 16 is such a good age to have a kid and then abandon them.”

She watched Ness’ face drop and immediately wanted to take back what she just said. Ness slammed a couple papers on the table before moving back to the door and ripping it open.

“You are such an ungrateful little bitch.”

The door slammed behind her.

“Ouch.” Toni said quietly.

“Just do the tattoo already” Adria sunk down into her seat and ran a hand through her hair.

She really fucked up this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close to the end! I plan on doing a few more chapters before going onto book 2 which will pick up at the beginning of season 3.
> 
> sorry-not sorry for the slow burn :) :)
> 
> but soon!


	12. A Blessing and a Curse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long!! I've been going through some major writers block to get through this chapter. Hope y'all still enjoy :)

Adria sipped her strawberry milkshake as Sweet Pea talked her ear off about ‘Fangs and Toni ditching them…again’. Practices for the musical were in full swing and Fangs and Toni were occupied just about every day of the week. Not like Adria would complain about all the time she was spending alone with Sweet Pea.

“You haven’t said anything in the last 5 minutes. Are you just ignoring me now?” He asked her, eyebrow raised.

“No, I’m listening. You’re cute when you’re mad.” She smiled as he rolled her eyes at her, unable to contain the small blush that rose to his cheeks. Sure, Adria still didn’t think she was emotionally ready for a relationship. But now that the cat was out of the bag there was no reason she couldn’t say exactly what was on her mind.

Adria felt her pocket buzz and picked up her phone, seeing a message from Ness saying how she was late for their pizza and movie night.

“Fuck me. I’ve gotta go. Give me a ride home?”

“All you have to do is say the word, Princess and I’d be happy to fuck you. You’re the one who set boundaries.” A smirk crossed over his features as Adria felt herself blushing this time. Although she was probably a lot redder.

“Shut up!” She said as she flung a balled up straw wrapper at him. “You’re lucky I already bought your shake or else I’d make you get it yourself.”

Sweet Pea shook his head and walked her out of Pop’s to his bike, “You know we’re basically dating without the fun bits, right?”

Adria gave him a look “Excuse you. Every part of dating me is the fun bit.”

She grabbed the spare helmet from him and hopped up onto his bike, no longer shy about wrapping her arms around him.

“I’m glad to hear you and Ness are normal again.”

She smiled at the thought. For the most part they were normal again. Adria had apologized for being way out of line the night of her Serpent dance. To which Ness also apologized for trying too hard to keep her from going down the same path. Tears were shed. Hugs were shared. Now they were back to pizza and bad movies. Although the elephant in the room never left. No matter how hard they tried to go back to the way things were before, Ness was still Adria’s birth mother. And Adria still didn’t know how to cope with it.

“As normal as anything gets in the Serpents” she laughed

 

 

\-----------

 

“You guys are coming, right?” Fangs said as he cornered her in the student lounge the next day at school “I’ve been working my ass off as co-director and Toni’s been doing her thing in the chorus. You _have to_ come”

“I never said I wasn’t, calm down.” Adria took a bite of her banana.

“Opening night is going to be _legendary_. I got you and Sweet Pea second row seats.” He pulled a pair of tickets out of his pocket and shoved them into her hand “I will be looking for you opening night. If I don’t see either of you there I will kill you.”

Adria rolled her eyes at the threat

“Since when am I Sweet Pea’s keeper?”

“Since you guys are dating. And don’t give me this ‘no we’re not’ shit. I’m not blind.”

“Its…”

“Complicated. Yeah, yeah, we know.” He cut her off before she could finish “Anyone with eyes can see that you two want each other. Fuck this whole working things out on your own shit. Let us help you. Let yourself be happy.”

“I _am_ happy, Fangs. We’re just taking things slow. Nothing wrong with that.”

Fangs let out a long groan

“Just fuck already.”

 

Opening night was buzzing with activity. Parents were arriving with large bouquets of flowers, boyfriends and girlfriends alike made loud conversations from their seats. For once Riverdale felt lively despite the Black Hood. Adria took her seat with Sweet Pea in the second row, front and center. She shot Fangs a quick text to let him know they arrived and shoved her phone back into her pocket, Flashing Sweet Pea a smile.

“At least they swapped Cheryl with Midge.” She whispered into his ear “Cheryl’s so incredibly pitchy I don’t think I could listen to a whole musical with her as the lead”

Sweet Pea let out a small chuckle

“Don’t let Toni hear you say that.”

The lights dimmed and the crowd around them went quiet as the lights on the stage illuminated. Adria sunk back into her seat, preparing for the show. They started with a musical number by Midge and it didn’t take long for her to feel an arm creep around her shoulder. She looked over to see Sweet Pea staring intently at the stage.

Adria smiled to herself as she returned her attention to the play. Maybe Fangs was right, maybe this is exactly what she needed.

As the play continued Adria was shocked to see that they cast Betty Cooper’s mom to play the role of Carrie’s mother. Odd casting for a high school play, but then again this _was_ Riverdale. Alice continued to sing, it was Carrie’s mother’s big number. But then the wall lifted to reveal Carrie. Stabbed to the wall with blood writing on the walls.

“They really went all out with the special effects.” Sweet Pea whispered into her ear.

But the music stopped. Kevin and Cheryl exchanged panicked whispers from the front row before Cheryl finally shouted.

“Somebody help her!”

Then there was the scream from Alice Cooper, shrill enough to shatter glass.

The crowd went berserk. People were screaming and pushing to escape the crowded auditorium. Adria and Sweet Pea stood in place, determining that it would be safer than attempting to leave with the crowd. In the row in front of them Cheryl attempted to calm a panicking Kevin, the only words she managed to make out being “I didn’t script this!”

 

\--------

 

The next week classes resumed as normal, although the students were anything but. There was a large memorial full of flowers and stuffed animals in front of Midge’s locker. Students who participated in the play were being pulled out for police interviews left and right. River Vixen practices were suspended as a sort of ‘moment of silence’ for their fallen.

But for the Serpents it was business as usual and the weekly Swords and Serpents meeting resumed that afternoon. Adria walked to the English classroom with Toni after the final bell, casually discussing their latest history test.

“What did Keller ask you?” Adria asked.

Toni was pulled out of class for at least 20 minutes to talk to the sheriff about Midge. It made enough sense since they were moving through the entire cast list of Carrie.

“Just about Cheryl. If she was angry that she had to step down and Midge took her place.” Toni sighed “He’s desperate, he has no leads.”

“Toni.” Adria whispered harshly “You don’t think she did it, do you?”

“What?” Toni practically yelled “Absolutely not, Ads! Why would you say that about my girlfriend?”

“She set her house on fire, Toni. With her mother in it.”

Toni let out a deep sigh as she opened the door to the classroom

“She didn’t do it. She was in the crowd when the show started and before that she was backstage with me.”

“I believe you.” Adria smiled “I just want to make sure that you’re safe. You’ve been home less and less lately.”

Toni gave her a playful shove “Yes, _mom_. We’re being safe.”

Both girls laughed as they took a couple of seats at one of the desks. The remaining Serpents continued to filter in and the dull noise in the room continued to grow louder until Jughead entered and called the meeting to attention.

Adria found herself zoning out as Jughead talked about an upcoming charity ride he was planning. Until the door burst open and a group of Bulldogs pushed their way in.

All the Serpents immediately shot to their feet expecting a fight, what the fight would be for they had no idea.

“Which of you Serpent scum was screwing Midge?” Reggie yelled.

The group looked around at each other, some of them holding back laughter. The whole idea that Midge was sleeping with a Serpent was ridiculous.

“I bet it was you, Sweet Pea. What’s the matter? Serpent sluts not good enough for you anymore?”

Adria saw red. She immediately tried to square up to Reggie, but he towered over her.

“Seriously, Reggie?” She stared up at him, her hands on his hips “Just because your buddy couldn’t please his girlfriend doesn’t mean you get to storm in here and accuse one of us.”

“What did you _just_ say?”

“I never even talked to Midge.” Adria felt Sweet Pea’s hand on her shoulder as he moved her behind him “Besides I’ve been a little _busy._ ”

“What the hell, Reggie?” Jughead spoke up “You can’t just bust in here and accuse us of killing Midge.”

Just then as if things couldn’t get any weirder Archie Andrews ran into the room as well. Somehow through all the arguing and threats of a fight Jughead and Archie managed to separate the two groups. After the scuffle was over Jughead dismissed meeting and most of the Serpents filtered out.

Until Fangs stopped Toni, Adria, Sweet Pea, and Jughead.

“I have…something to say” Fangs didn’t look up from the floor when he spoke. “Jughead, opening night when you caught me in Midge’s dressing room…I wasn’t just giving her lines…”

The group looked at each other in shock.

“Fangs. Why didn’t you tell us?” Toni asked

“I freaked.” Fangs rubbed the back of his neck and brought his eyes to the group “I knew they would try to pin it on me and I panicked.”

“This doesn’t leave this room” Jughead addressed the group “I’ll take care of this. Until then no one says a word to anyone.”

Adria was mad at herself more than anything. She had been distant the last few weeks with everything going on in her own life. Fangs and Toni had been gone more and more with play practice so she didn’t assume anything was out of the ordinary. She had no idea her best friend had a ‘girlfriend’ of sorts.

Jughead walked out, grumbling to himself leaving the 4 in silence. Sure, no one believed that Fangs had killed a girl but it also hadn’t sunk in that he was sleeping with a Northsider either. The only thing weirder would be Sweet Pea sleeping with a Northside girl.

“Hey, since play practices are over do you want to come over and watch some shitty home renovation shows and yell at their poor choices with me?” Adria asked Fangs, forcing a smile on her face.

“I think I’d just rather be alone, Ads. Sorry.”

“Yeah…of course. Well you know where we live.”

Fangs walked out and shut the door behind him. Adria was beyond worried about him. It was clear that his nerves were going to eat him alive, but it wasn’t clear how any of them could help.

“I see that look on your face.” Toni scolded “You’re making this your fault and it’s not. We’ve all been dealing with our own shit the last couple of weeks.”

Adria let out a long sigh “You’re right. You’re at least coming home, right?”

Toni made a face “Actually I’m staying at Cheryl’s tonight. She’s really bent out of shape about Midge.”

“Of course.” She smiled “I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

 

She rode home on the back of Sweet Pea’s bike to an empty trailer. Ness had been working more and more lately with her “side business” to try to keep up with legal fees. Toni, who had become a staple in the home, was now only there maybe once or twice a week. Now even Sweet Pea had to leave for “Serpent Business”.

Adria unlocked the door and threw her bag onto the table. She was used to an empty house, or at least she was before. Her father was always gone for work and it never bothered her before. Maybe that was the issue when people we constantly around. When they were gone it hurt more.

 

\-------

 

 

The next day started as normally as any other day. Adria turned in her math homework that she half-assed at 11pm the night before, lunch was revealed to be something she had no interest in, and her English teacher was having issues getting something in PowerPoint to work.

After English everything changed.

She was on the other side of the school, changing for gym class when it happened. The cops rushed in and arrested Fangs. She heard from Jughead that they threw him to the ground when they saw he carried a switch blade. Everyone at Riverdale High was buzzing about how they caught Midge’s killer.

Adria couldn’t focus on anything for the rest of the day, not like she was alone in that matter. The Serpent kids found themselves getting multiple lectures for staring off in class. But who could blame them? Their friend was sitting at the sheriff’s station, most likely undergoing hours upon hours of questioning and no one seemed to care.

The moment school let out Sweet Pea, Adria, Toni, and Jughead were at the sheriff’s station. Attorney McCoy had disappeared into an interrogation room with Fangs after Jughead managed to convince her to take on his case pro-bono. Adria felt less than useless. Normally she would have paid for the best lawyer money could buy, but all that money was now tied up. Now she was no help at all.

Attorney McCoy came out with mixed news. Fangs was in custody for possessing a weapon on school property and if they couldn’t come up with charges by midnight they would have to release him. The bad news was there was plenty of people in Riverdale that were already starting to come for information on if Midge’s killer had been arrested.

If they let Fangs go there could be an even larger issue.

The sheriff ended up kicking the group out. Deciding to fuel up at Pop’s before they went back for Fangs they all sat quietly in a booth. No one really said anything. Jughead anxiously tapped his fork on the table. Sweet Pea would occasionally hit the back of the booth. Adria and Toni were both buried in their phones, trying to find anything that would pass the time quicker.

 

Hours passed in the booth at Pop’s before the group returned to the station. The crowd outside had grown from a few people to a full blown mob.

“This is bad.” Jughead was the first to speak. He quickly disappeared and brought Attorney McCoy back with him, whose face looked just as grim.

“He’s being released” She said “But the sheriff doesn’t plan on doing anything about the mob outside.”

The chants from outside were clear ‘murderer!’ they screamed ‘Justice for Midge!’

Fangs came out from behind a door, his hands finally free from cuffs, looking even more scared than the rest.

“I talked to Sheriff Minetta and both the front and back entrances have protesters.” Jughead’s face was grim “We’ll go out the front. I called the other Serpents and we’ll make a wall around Fangs. No one will be able to touch him.”

“I don’t wanna die.” Fangs managed to choke out, his face white as a sheet.

“You are _not_ going to die.” Adria grabbed his hand and squeezed “No one here is going to let that happen.”

The group huddled together, everyone gripping onto eachother for support.

“In unity there is strength!” Jughead yelled into the station

“In unity there is strength!” Everyone else in the huddle screamed. It was their war cry. A way to dispel the fear they were all feeling.

FP walked and everyone immediately focused. It was go time.

Everyone crowded around Fangs in a circle. Jughead took point with Adria on his left and Sweet Pea on his right. Adria knew she couldn’t do much with her size but at this point every body around Fangs made a difference.

They moved through the mob, pushing everyone they could out of their way. The scene was terrifying. Everyone was screaming that Fangs was a murderer and a large portion were calling for blood. Adria tried her best to ignore all of them as they continued to move through the crowd.

Out of nowhere Archie Andrews flew forward and tackled Reggie to the ground. It took all of them a moment to register the gun spill out of their hands.

That’s when it happened.

A shot rang out through the air and the crowd immediately silenced. Time seemed to stop as Adria felt the rush of wind whiz by her right side. She and Jughead looked at each other, looking the other up and down for any sign of damage. Then they turned around

Fangs clutched his stomach as a cloud of red appeared on his white shirt. He looked down before his eyes rolled back and he tumbled into one of the Serpent’s arms.

 

Fangs had been shot.


End file.
